Life

Ten Piece Nuggets-Random

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Ten days removed from the Thanksgiving holiday, we offer the Ten Nuggets deep-fried.  They’re deep with thought and might fry your mind.

  1.  The Cuomo brothers hit the unemployment line within weeks of one another and deservedly so.  They have a right to unemployment benefits, and apparently, they’re taking the Grate (on you) State of New York up on the opportunity per CNN.  They’ll need 24 feet to socially distance while in line.  First one brother, then six feet back is his ego, then the other brother and six feet back is his ego.
  2. CNN did a two-segment, 15-minute dive into what went wrong with Chris Cuomo and his waning days at CNN on Sunday.  It’s a self-aggrandizing network covering its self-aggrandizing show host’s downfall. Serial lier.  And, now comes another sexual misconduct complaint claim against him.  You’ve heard of like father, like son?  This one is like brother, like brother.  Our staff member that covered it is out 15 minutes of his life that he can’t get back.
  3. Jussie Smollett and Ghislaine Maxwell are on trial for two very different crimes.  Both are quite guilty and will be found so.  Smollett’s fake attack/bungled plan is laughable.  It was his worst acting job and he’s had a few.   And, it’s quite sad that he attempted to further divide a city and country with fake race allegations.  He’ll probably get a couple of years probation.  He should be made to pay back the city of Chicago every dime that they spent investigating this trash.
  4. Maxwell’s case has nothing funny about it.  You have to feel sad for the numerous young victims.  Kudos to four of them for having the courage to testify.  Adults taking advantage of the young is the lowest of the low.  She’ll get to serve some hard time that Jeffery Epstein was too much of a coward to face.
  5. Speaking with the Washington Times last week, Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dismissed the recent smash and grab allegations of “organized retail theft” as a hoax with not much evidence to back it up. “National retail groups last month estimated the annual losses to being in the tens of billions of dollars,” reported the AP.  “Respectfully, the Congresswoman has no idea what she is talking about. Both the data and stack of video evidence makes fairly clear that this is a growing problem in need of solutions,” said Jason Brewer, Retail Industry Leaders Association Senior VP.  In 2020 she was reelected with nearly 72% of the votes cast in the 14th district of the still Grate State of New York.  Let that sink in.
  6. You heard it here first.  Omicron will be the catalyst to turn the United States back into people who think rationally about the never-ending covid quagmire.  The hysteria has peaked and alternatives are beginning to emerge.  There’s way more to this than to line up like sheep and get a jab and think that’s the answer.  More coming this week.
  7. In the sports world, four is the number.  The NCAA playoff committee seeded Alabama, Michigan, Georgia, and Cincinnatti one through four, for a chance to win it all.  With all of the yearly fuss about who could and should get in, the results from the season and conference championship games usually work their way out.  Georgia is a surprisingly high eight-point favorite over Michigan, while Alabama opened as a 14 point choice over Cincinnati in the semi-finals.
  8. Since 2014 Nick Saban has led his Crimson Tide onto the playing field as an underdog a mere three times!  In each of these contests Bama won the game by 17 points or more.  Saban owns Kirby Smart too.  He’s 4- 0 vs. his former assistant.  Smart called Saturday’s 41-24 beatdown a “wake-up call.”
  9. Four is the number of losses that all four division leaders in the AFC have as the season reaches the 2/3rds mark.  This makes for some interesting games down the stretch starting tonight when Buffalo (7-4) tries to take the East Division lead back from New England(8-4).
  10. In the NFC North and South, the Packers and Bucs lead their divisions by a whopping four games already.  In the West, the Cardinals lead by two over the four-loss Rams who figure prominently in the wild card at a minimum.  In the East, the Cowboys have four losses and lead the division.  They play the suddenly hot Washington Football Team twice in the next three weeks.   A sweep would put the Pokes four games up.

Get back to work now.

 

 

Why Not Ask Why?

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Why ask why?  Someone has to now more than ever.

Why is Biden imposing a travel ban from foreign countries today when the Omicron variant is already here and previous variants never left?

Why is Biden leaving the southern border open while closing down air travel to help prevent the spread?

Why aren’t we wearing two masks everywhere we go as some Einsteins (de Blasio) suggested many months ago?

Why can’t someone, anyone, in the medical community tell us how the body’s own immune system is fairing vs the jabs?

Why should we stop at a booster to a booster?  Why not five after four?

Why is Pfizer stock doing so well?

Why do we fire head coaches left and right when they have a losing record and  Anthony Fauci is still in a position of power?

Why is every government vaccine mandate getting turned down by courts of law at every level?

Why doesn’t Biden get the blame for all of these covid deaths under his watch as Trump did?

Why blame presidents for covid deaths in the first place when the virus is going to do the virus thing?

Why did the administration call the worst inflation “transitory,” for months on end, reappoint Fed Chairman Powell, and he tells Wall St that it’s time to remove the word “transitory” from our inflation discussions?

Why do most of the mainstream media describe the tragedy in Waukesha as “an SUV” that ran into the people at the parade and not a “deranged, murderous driver”?

Why do three different independent polls in the last week have Biden’s approval rating at 38, 41, and 43% just a year after 81 million voted for him?

Why would Jen Psaki have a lower job approval rating than Biden if such a poll was taken?

Why did it take so long for CNN to “indefinitely” suspend Chris Cuomo?  Why did they only suspend him?

Why did Jeffery Toobin only get indefinitely suspended?  Why did they bring him back?

Why do we need to spend a trillion to improve our roads and airports if we can’t drive or fly anywhere due to the previous or next covid wave?

Why is there an inheritance tax after the deceased has already paid income tax, capital gains tax, and sales tax on the money earned or spent?

Why did Nancy Pelosi buy a $25 million beachfront mansion in Florida if she fears that the ocean is about to swallow the land due to that pesky climate change problem?

Why will Beto O’Rourke run for Governor of Texas after losing to Ted Cruz for the Senate years ago and failing miserably in his Democratic nominee for President run?

Why will the press ask him if he’s running for President after he loses in the gubernatorial attempt?

Why are members of VP Kamala Harris’ administrative/support staff leaving in droves?

Why not ask why?  Someone needs to more than ever.

 

 

 

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-Random

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Start your shortened work week off with a Ten Piece Nuggets serving.    We air-fried them to save calories for Thursday.

Unfortunately, be forewarned, nuggets one and two don’t taste too well.

  1.  Waukesha, WI is a nice, easy-going, do for others, slice of America.  It’s a 75k citizen suburb due west of Milwaukee.  But unfortunately, this AM it’s a major crime scene and an international story.  We’ll spare the details as everyone with a TV is aware of “what” happened.  It seems like the “who” part of the event is already in custody.  The “why” part is unknown.  BBR hopes that all of the 40 or so injured make a full recovery.  Wisconsin is one of only 12 states that does not have the death penalty if you were wondering or hoping.
  2. Waukesha is about a 50-mile drive from Kenosha.  Does last night’s rage have anything at all to do with the Rittenhouse trial outcome/unrest?  Our guess at this moment is that they are unrelated based on the “person of interest’s” recent individual scrapes with the law.  But, for Wisconsin, a go-along to get along state, it’s far too much bad press in far too short of a time window.  One minute you’re watching a fun festive holiday parade, the next…………    Sometimes words fall far short in their ability to describe true feelings.
  3. Reece Witherspoon following the lead of other Hollywood folks expressed her outrage about the Rittenhouse verdict.  She tweeted yesterday, “No one should be able to purchase a semi-automatic weapon, cross state lines and kill 2 people, wound another, and go free. In what world is this safe … for any of us?”  He didn’t purchase it.  He didn’t cross state lines with it.  Kenosha is about 5 miles from Illinois, but we digress.  In this world a jury of his peers voted on it.  Facts matter, but never ever let that get in the way of a good narrative.
  4. You can like Tucker Carlson on Fox or not.  You can like the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict or not.  And, you can hear Kyle’s story in his own words this evening at 7 pm CST on Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox.  The show regularly gets very high Nielsen Ratings.  Tonight, they’ll soar higher.  What a scoop!
  5.  Some fine folks in San Francisco decided to loot (pick clean) the Louis Vuitton store in Union Square in SF Saturday night.  Nordstroms and two other high-end stores were targeted as well.  What a fine city SF once was.  What a cesspool it now is.  We’d cite the very left, liberal thinking officials that run the place as the main reason for its downfall, but that would be too easy and too accurate.  The only job in America harder than selling neckties these days would be the head of tourism for SF.
  6. Turning to sports, Dan Mullen, the Florida Gators head football coach was sacked yesterday.  The Gators lost to Missouri 24-23 in OT a week after Samford (that’s Samford, not Stanford) scored 52 on his D.  He could have and should have been let go last week, but the loss made it all the more unbearable.  If you look up the word quirky in the dictionary Mullen’s picture will be next to the definition.
  7. Suddenly there are several big-time NCAA football coaching jobs open.  With new TV contracts and teams jumping to form super conferences, money is flush.  How else can you explain Mel Tucker getting 10 years and $95 million to coach Michigan State?  He hasn’t won his division within the conference, and won’t this year, much less won the conference.  Ohio St worked the Spartans over Saturday.  It was 49-0 at the half.  It finished 56-7.  It’s great work if you can get it.  Tucker got it.  Texas A&M was the first college to jump the shark with three loss Jimbo.  Others will follow shortly.
  8. With a week of the season left to play, Texas, LSU, Florida St., Florida, USC, Virginia Tech, TCU, and Nebraska all have losing records.  It’s been a while for all eight of those to have down seasons at the same time.  All have (or had-TCU) job openings in 2021 except Texas and Nebraska.  Texas wouldn’t pull the plug on Sarkesian in his first year, would they?  Frost is a coin flip to stay at Nebraska after the season ends Saturday.
  9. The very successful Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll might be burning out after nearly 12 years with his team.  “I’m just not any good at this,” Carroll said of handling this level of losing. “I’m not prepared for this. I’m struggling to do a good job of coaching when you’re getting your butt kicked week in and week out.”  Minutes later he walked out of the news conference in mid-question.  He’s a young-looking 70 years old.  Time will tell.   It always does.
  10.  So, who is the best team in the NFL?  Wait a week and the answer will change.  It’s exactly what the brand wants-most everyone thinks they can get hot and get to the playoffs, and then to the biggest stage of all.  Don’t look now but the New England Patriots have won five in a row.

Baked, smoked, or deep-fried?

Ten Piece Nuggets-Random

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Give a three-year-old a blank piece of paper and a box of crayons and off he/she (pronouns undecided) goes wild.  Give a staff writer the green light on the word “random” and they/us (pronouns known) go wild.

  1.  If you had Tampa Bay (v Saints and Football Team) and the LA Rams (v Titans and the 49ers) both losing two in a row, Peyton and Eli might invite you on the show next Monday night.
  2. The Bucs’ Bruce Arians pulls no punches.  He put a good bit of the blame right at Tom Brady’s feet.  The Rams added OBJ for a good reason.  They’ve only scored 26 points total in those last two losing efforts.  In the NFL you’re only as good as your next game.
  3. Kenosha is bracing for the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict.  Could widespread rioting occur?  The National Guard is at the ready.  Where were they the first time?
  4. How did the Kenosha DA’s office do in the eyes of America?  “The performance of Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger was especially pathetic,” wrote the NY Post.  The final low might have been the lowest.  He pointed an AR15 at the jury box with his finger on the trigger during closing arguments.  His case was shot well before that, however.  Yesterday the judge threw the weapons charges out.  In poker terms, it was a tell of how the bigger charges might play out.
  5. How is it in America that some think 18 is too young to possess a gun but 16 is old enough to vote?  And, a 14-year-old can get an abortion without parental consent, and a four-year-old is mature enough to decide their gender?  Regardless of party preference some critical thinking is strongly advised.
  6. While Elon Musk is dumping 10s of billions of dollars of Telsa stock, the American investor is buying 10s of billions of EV truck maker Rivian.  Rivian went public under the ticker “RIVN” on Nov. 10, 2021 at an initial offering price of $78.  It closed yesterday at $149 and is premarket trading this AM at $166.  Its market value yesterday was greater than General Motors.  Is it the next Tesla?  Maybe Elon is buying a share or three?
  7. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases head Dr. Anthony Faucisaid on “CBS Sunday Morning” that former President Donald Trump’s “misplaced perception” about people’s individual rights hurt public safety during the coronavirus pandemic.  Ted Koppel was the host.  Ole Ted missed a great opportunity.  He could have asked what Fauci would he would do differently from day one as well.  But, Ted stayed dutifully on the CBS script.
  8. Covid levels are spiking in countries abroad as well as in two handfuls of states here all over again.  Why did the US Government remove international to US travel restrictions two weeks ago?  And, does Fauci have an answer for this spike, or should he blame Trump?
  9. And, here comes Trump.  A very recent poll (the name escapes us, but its credibility does not) showed that of likely Republican voters in the first primary state of Iowa former President Donald J Trump leads all other Republican possible challengers by nearly 20 percentage points.  It says here that the only way the GOP loses the White House in 2024 is to nominate Trump.  There’s a very long road to 2024 of course, but the first fork is a wrong turn.
  10.  Trump used to love to say, “you’re fired” in a previous life.  In football head coaches are hired to be fired.  Justin Fuente, who had a 43-31 record in six seasons at Virginia Tech, is out as the Hokies’ football coach, athletic director Whit Babcock announced Tuesday.  Virginia Tech joins USC, Washington, Washington State, and LSU as Power 5 job openings. Who’s next?  The University of Miami, FL fired AD, Blake James yesterday.  That paves the way for a new AD to let Manny Diaz go.  A 6-4 record in year four isn’t good enough, and a loss to Florida St isn’t acceptable.  Steve Sarkesian anyone?  The Texas Longhorn faithful are an impatient group, a very impatient group.  Stranger things have happened.

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?

Booster Palooza

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

This medical update is brought to you by Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J.  Or, should we have said their financial update?

Cue Sonny of Cher fame.  And the beat goes on.  And the beat goes on.  Cue your trustworthy government.  And the boosters go on.  And on.  And on.

Let’s start the check-up by looking at some very recent events.

“General Colin L. Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, passed away this morning due to complications from Covid 19,” the Powell family wrote on Facebook, noting he was fully vaccinated.  Maybe it’s just a rare breakthrough case you say?

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who is vaccinated against Covid-19, tested positive for the virus on Tuesday morning, according to department spokesperson Marsha Espinosa.  Maybe it’s yet just another rare breakthrough case?

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday excused President Biden’s decision to not wear a mask inside a DC restaurant as “moments in time that don’t reflect overarching policy.”  “I would say, of course, there are moments when we all don’t put masks back on as quickly as we should.”

This brushed aside, unmasked, wordless “gaffe” happened just a few short days after Biden interacted with the now infected Secretary Mayorkas.  Don’t worry though, Biden’s recent coughing and sneezing was only a common cold.

Where is the contact tracing police? Ha, that’s a good one.  It’s a worthless exercise.  It’s like chasing loose change in a tumbling dryer.

Well, you get the picture, and it isn’t a pretty one.

But, it does seem clear that being vaccinated does significantly reduce the risk of getting a case requiring hospitalization pretty dramatically.  That is good.

Does natural immunity do the same?  Someone tell us yes or no, please.

But when will the American citizens get the bigger picture?  How much longer do you want to be told what you can and cannot do with or without a mask, socially distanced or not, vaccinated or not?

NCAA football fans seem over it.  Fauci worried weeks ago about these superspreader events that aren’t superspreader events.  If he placed money on black and red on the roulette wheel, you should get down on green.

Do you know that POTUS’s jab mandate for employers of 100 or more is making its way through the bureaucracy?  It’s not final yet, but should be in a few weeks.

It sounds like a good idea.  But, fully one-third of the nation’s workforce is employed by companies that have less than one hundred employees.  Why stop the soon-to-be legally challenged mandate at 100 plus?

And, can anyone tell you what your immunity is after contracting the disease versus a jab?  Two jabs?  Three?  Why stop at three?

That’s info that Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J would prefer you not really know, understand, or embrace.

The FDA fills the gap.  It now recommends that the heretofore J&J one-and-done shot gets an extra free shot. It even approved the booster, get this, by having one of its advisors say “we approved the booster more on gut feeling than facts.”  And to make it all the easier the FDA is expected to approve this week a mix and match of three companies elixir along the booster highway.    Comforting all, isn’t it?

Around and around we go as it’s money, money, money for the pharms, and free, free, free for the minions.  Didn’t your dad tell you “nothing is free?”

Biden actually said weeks ago that the time has come that “we must protect the vaccinated from the unvaccinated.”   It sounded ludicrous.  It turns out that maybe it didn’t go far enough.

Maybe we need to find a way to protect the vaccinated from the vaccinated.

Pfizer’s ears just heard its pockets jingle.

 

 

 

 

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.

OJ and Graham Got Jabbed, Twitter Got Clicks

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The combined most famous and infamous athlete to walk the earth, Orenthal James Simpson, posted a 48 second Twitter video yesterday.  On it, he used a seat belt analogy to support his plea for all of us to get vaccinated.  It saves lives.  Oh, the irony.  O.J. even expressed his (and our) displeasure of having to wear masks.

And, all of that is what is wrong with the ease and access that one and all have to social media.

But, what Twitter giveth, Twitter can taketh.   Check out the feedback that The Juice got below if you dare.

If you’re not into cringe-worthy or dark humor, now might be a good time to hit the small X in the top right corner of your computer screen.  If you like to poke the vaccine bear and/or OJ times two, read on.  A handful of comments follow.

  1.  If there is anything this guy will not tell you the truth about, it’s getting jabbed.
  2.  Fun fact: Nicole and Ron weren’t vaccinated.  Look how it turned out for them.
  3.  If OJ is taking time out from looking for Nicole’s killers on the golf courses for a little advice about your health, you better listen.
  4. If the mask don’t fit…………….
  5. OJ with the needle in the CVS (Clue).
  6. Listen up.  This guy knows how to survive a life-threatening situation.
  7. Well done.  He cuts right to the point.

Meanwhile Senator Lindsey Graham, fully vaccinated last December announced via Twitter that he tested positive for the virus yesterday after spending time on a houseboat with other vaccinated senators.

Kate Coyne-McCoy, the chief strategist of the Rhode Island Democratic Party, faced swift criticism late Monday over a tweet about Sen. Lindsey Graham’s COVID-19 diagnosis.

Coyne-McCoy took to Twitter and posted, “It’s wrong to hope he dies from Covid right? Asking for a friend. #COVIDISNOTOVER #LINDSEYGRAHAM,” she posted.

The floor gets lowered daily.

Luckily for Graham, his symptoms are mild.  He will self-quarantine for 10 days and a full recovery is expected.

Twitter banned Trump.  It’s banned others.  Is it asking too much for it to ban itself?

We wonder if humankind will ever rebound from the depths that social media has taken us.

 

Underoos and Boosters

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

To mask or not to mask?  That is but one of the many questions that the CDC must ask, and answer.

Main St. (we have plenty of toilet paper and Clorox Wipes on the shelves) and Wall St. (new highs on major averages nearly weekly) are behaving much differently than last April 2020.  Meanwhile, the CDC, WHO, Fauci, and your ever-loving government seem like they can’t get out of the middle of a busy intersection.

They have a few questions to answer.  Again, we might add.

In no particular order, we pose more than two handfuls below.

  1.  Do masks really help? No, really help?
  2.  If they do why aren’t we all wearing them again right now?  Why only the hot spots CDC?  Why not the other spots before they turn into hot spots as well?
  3. Should we call the vaccines, well, vaccines?  Or should we call them therapeutics?  When you hear about needing a booster (3rd shot) after a scant few months you have to wonder.  When you hear Pfizer’s initial two doses may only have a 40% retention of the antibodies after only four months you have to wonder even more.
  4. How can pro golfer Jon Rahm test positive six weeks ago, go into quarantine, get fully vaccinated, and test positive yet again this past week? If you trust the tests, which is a whole other box of swabs, then Rahm’s results make you wonder why we test and why we get vaccinated.
  5. Where is the “science” or “data” (the two most overused words on the planet in the last 15 months) that compares positive tested adults’ resiliency to reoccurrence v. vaccinated adults?
  6. Why did Biden campaign against the “reckless way” Trump rushed the vaccines to the market and now blame those unvaccinated for the latest wave?  Seems like a mixed message.  Also, how can the border be wide open during a pandemic?
  7. Why do those that scream that it is a women’s right to choose also scream at the unvaccinated as if they have no right to choose? If your answer is that they are two totally different circumstances, you may be right and you may be wrong at the same time.
  8. Is anyone working on a better vaccine?  We assume that private enterprise and capitalism are always doing what the market rewards, but the noise is quite silent around this.   Why aren’t people demanding this and holding the Administration’s feet to the fire?
  9. Is big brother actively encouraging pharma to do so?  Are they incentivizing it? We give away billions every day.  Maybe we could call it infrastructure to speed it along?  Maybe we could call it climate change remediation to speed it along?
  10.  Where did the flu go?  How did we drop from millions of cases in a year to next to none?  Ah, was it because of masks, washing hands, and social distancing that it went away?  If so, why hasn’t that worked on Covid-19?  More contagious you say?  Then why are we doing it in the first place then?
  11.  Does wearing a mask on your chin help?  Does wearing a mask only to cover your mouth help?
  12. Now that we have a Delta variant and a Lambda variant can a third be far off?  Should we publicize the future names now as we do for the hurricane season?  In today’s world of equality, half need to be male and half female names.   And, don’t forget the acceptable pronouns.
  13. Can anyone make Joy (was there ever a worst first name given relative to the person’s disposition?) Behar close that worthless yapper of hers?  Yesterday she said that we should begin to “threaten” those who remain unvaccinated.  It wasn’t that long ago that individual freedoms were the ever-present battle cry from the left.  It still is depending upon the subject.  See question seven above.
  14.  If you have a child ages 2-12 will you get them vaccinated when the CDC and the FDA say that the shot or shots are safe?  Why?
  15.  If you have a 3-5-year-old have you bought the mask that Fauci wants your child to wear to preschool?  Crayons, Underoos, lunch boxes, and masks.

Questions, we had a few.