Life

Knock, Knock. Who’s There?

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Police Chief Martin Brody, played quite well by accomplished actor Roy Scheider, warned us in Jaws way back on July 4th, 1975 that it might not be safe to go back in the water yet.  And, he was right.

Now, as fireworks were lighting up America from coast to coast, the Delta variant swam ashore.  Is it the next great white, or is it just a piece of the Covid wave?

The percentages indicate that it’s rapidly becoming a bigger part of the problem, but the overall problem isn’t becoming bigger.  At least, it isn’t yet.

The Delta strain is even infecting vaccinated individuals at a rate that seems headed to the “troublesome” quadrant.  What to do?

Another accomplished actor Joe Biden, er, Mr. President, and his team are pushing the (take your pick-Moderna, Pfizer, or J and J) vaccine.  It’s the only bullet in the shark gun, isn’t it?

Or, we could wear a mask again.  The World Health Organization (WHO) is recommending that vaccinated individuals do just that because of the Delta noise.  But, is anyone listening?

What about social distancing?  If six feet was good, twelve feet should be better.

Biden meanwhile is doubling down.  He said Tuesday that he would be sending officials out to knock on people’s doors across America to pressure them to take the coronavirus vaccine.  “Now we need to go community by community, neighborhood by neighborhood, and often times door by door – literally knocking on doors to get help to the remaining people,” Biden said during his speech about coronavirus.

“Get help to the remaining people,” sounds so empathetic, doesn’t it?  Or, pathetic?

So, we should get the vaccine that doesn’t work on the Delta variant, and wear a mask that didn’t stop the virus the first time?  Got it.  No wonder, for the most part, that America is ignoring this and swimming in the supposedly infested waters of gyms, planes, hotels, bars, and restaurants.

Before you know it some imbecile like NY Mayor Bill de Blasio will recommend that we wear two masks all over again.

The government is always trying to help, aren’t they?  Or, they are at least trying to control, aren’t they? Or, they are at least wanting to have that power, aren’t they?

You wonder if the US Postal Service could kick in too.  They’re already going door to door daily.

In fact, they even deliver the mail down into the Grand Canyon via pack mule three times a week.  True story.

The government helps the mail carrier business every year or two by giving them tens of billions of dollars (they’ve been insolvent for decades) to continue to go door to door.

It’s an ongoing public service that’s as beneficial as a knock on your door vaccine reminder (or coercion).

Did you know that most shark attacks occur in three feet of water or less?  A government public service announcement said it was so.

 

 

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.

Woke. Toke. Joke.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Over the weekend our friend Woke spoke out against Georgia and its supposed voter suppression laws.  Never mind that the laws in place in the southern state are actually more progressive now than they were during the recent elections.

Major League Baseball was listening.  And learning.  MLB decided that it would move its 2021 mid-summer All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver.  Its commissioner Rob Manfred, a member of the exclusive, famed Augusta Country Club so far has declined comment on whether The Masters Golf Tournament should follow suit.

It looks like the big swing from east to the west didn’t travel quite far enough.

Coors Field is named after Joseph Coors former president of Coors Brewing Company.

Coors established the Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) a generation ago.  MSLF’s litigation work took a swing at the Voting Rights Act. MSLF filed a brief in the U.S Supreme Court case Shelby County v. Holder challenging Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which required that certain states had to get preclearance from the U.S. Department of Justice or a federal court before changing voting laws.  Oops.

If only the balls were juiced enough to have flown all the way to Cali.

There Woke could toke.  Although it would be wise to stay away from any cannabis developed by rapper Xzibit’s company named Napalm Cannabis.  They’ve been hit with an accusation of racism due to it being named after the chemical weapon used in firebombs during the Vietnam War.

A California-based store named The Higher Path found itself in the bullseye.  The Higher Path quickly took the higher path.  It says the product line ended up on its digital shelves in the first place due to ignorance and a lack of diversity on the company’s marketing team.

Customers were offended by the name of the rapper’s company, as well as a product known as “The Grenade,” reports no greater authority than TMZ.

“As an entirely white marketing team that lacks knowledge or trauma surrounding this weapon, we didn’t realize how violent and ignorant it was to promote such a brand/product. That’s on us.”

Woke.  Smoke.  Toke.  Joke.

“The word ‘napalm’ is definitely synonymous with war, and being used as a weapon,” Xzibit said. “And if you know anything about me, and my body of work — I got albums called ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction,’ and ‘Man vs. Machine,’ so on and so forth.

“My intention for naming the cannabis company Napalm was by no means affiliated or a nod to the devastation that it’s had in its past,” Xzibit added.

The rapper said “as a black man,” he understands “discrimination and hatred.”

“So this album here is called ‘Napalm.’ I put this album out in 2012,” he continued.  Apparently, the word wasn’t as offensive from 2012 through early 2021.

Meanwhile back in backwoods Georgia,  apparently, neither is “braves” in the team name Atlanta Braves.  They’ve been in the ATL since 1966.

But the smoke signals from coast to coast signal that the end is near for that nickname.

It will get napalmed and not a moment too soon.

The Potato Head formerly known as Mr. knows this all too well.

 

 

 

Monopoly Woke Up

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

For the first time in over 85 years, Monopoly’s 16 Community Chest Cards are about to get a “long overdue” redo, Hasbro announced last Thursday.

And, why not?  #metoo has an entirely new meaning these days, DeShaun Watson aside.  Hasbro is following the lead of Dr. Suess and the Potato Head formerly known as Mr.

Call it “woke” or call it “cancel culture,” but most of all call it corporate me too.

“True to its longstanding history of inviting its fans to help make changes to the game, and during a time when community means more than ever before, Monopoly is asking consumers worldwide to determine the new cards by voting at MonopolyCommunityChest.com,” the company said in a press release.   Actually, the long-standing history is that it rarely changed until now.

The press release drivel continues, “covering topics like beauty contests, holiday funds, and life insurance, there is no denying the Monopoly game’s Community Chest Cards are long overdue for a refresh. And, coming out of the tumultuous year of 2020, the term “community” has taken on a whole new meaning. Hasbro is counting on their fans to help reflect what community means in their real lives, into the Monopoly game, by voting for new cards like “Shop Local,” “Rescue A Puppy,” or “Help Your Neighbors.”

And on, “according to the Monopoly website where players may vote, card options include rescuing a puppy to get out of jail free or being penalized for not recycling your trash.

Woke indeed.  But perhaps they should have gone even further.  Changing just the Community Chest cards doesn’t seem inclusive enough.  BBR has a few further suggestions to iron out to bring the board game into 2021.

Pennsylvania Ave. should be eliminated.  The real-world Pennsylvania Ave. in DC has a Trump Hotel on it.  No one should have to land on that and pay the Donald rent money.

Reading Railroad should be eliminated as well.   This screams of prejudice against the illiterate.

The money that you are given to start the game isn’t enough either.  Maybe an additional $1400 for everyone whether legal, illegal, or incarcerated would be helpful in these tough times.

And, why even have a jail?  That corner space could be renamed Bill de Blasio Blvd as he always has an extra “get out of jail free” card in the rare instance that someone in NY is actually charged with a crime.

Mediterranean and Baltic should go.  No one should live on streets in such squalor.  And, Boardwalk and Park Place must go too.  No one should be able to afford such excess.  Maybe the rules could assess a property tax to the rich landowners each time they added houses and give it to the squatters of the aforementioned lower-class neighborhood.

Oriental Ave?  Really?  Wow!

The game’s goal used to be to empty your competitor’s bank account not empty recycled trash.

Maybe Hasbro could insure that everyone wins from now on.  Heck, even the name “Monopoly” should change, shouldn’t it?

One tweeter unloaded and called it a “terrible idea” and said it’s a classic board game for a reason.

“Make a new woke version if you must but please leave the original game as it is. Hopefully, you feel the pain of a massive boycott while you’re on the cancel culture bandwagon,” the user stated.

We feel the tweeter’s pain.

 

 

 

$pring Break

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

In case you missed it, and we hope you did, the University of California, Davis offered its students $75 to not travel during spring break.

How so very thoughtful of them.  Let’s break it down.

They used mom and dad’s tuition money and gave it to mom and dad’s kids to get in an attempt to control the kid’s actions.

Does that sound at all like the government taking your tax dollars and then spending them in any fashion they deem necessary in an attempt to control your everyday life?  Stay home, we have $1400 on the way as a minuscule part (9%)  of the $1.9 trillion we just spent.

Power is a drug more powerful than any approved COVID-19 vaccine.  Control is the by-product high.

What better way to enjoy the $60k tuition school year is there?  Hey kids, listen up.  How about we have virtual classes and a virtual spring break?

Some other colleges, including The Universities of Michigan, Tennessee, and Baylor amended their calendars to do away with spring break altogether.

The predictable responses are flowing from the CDC and the honorable Dr. Fauci almost as fast as the beer from the taps of the millions that ignore them.

“Last year at this time spring break travel may have led to the super spread of the virus,” says a Ball St study.  Dr. Fauci said yesterday, “this is no time to let your guard down based on what may happen.”   May.

“The behavior of Americans in the months of March and April will be critical in preventing another surge,” Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said earlier this month.  Who knew that the CDC had a flying Walensky?  But we digress.

Next thing you know they’ll be telling us there are variant strains that will require us to, well, nevermind.

Speaking of flying, the TSA screened 1.3 mil and 1.2 mil passengers this past Friday and Saturday, a sure sign that Americans and spring breakers are moving on with their lives.

If you are/were somewhere between the ages of 18-22, what would you do?  You could take the $75 bucks that your parents paid the school.  Or you could go risk it all on a beach chasing fun in the sun with a 99.99999% chance that even if you contract the virus you’ll dispense of it as quickly as you got it.

Or, you could take the $75 and still fill the Volkswagen love van with petro and drive to the beach.  Ah hah.  Who said education doesn’t pay?

Remember when we needed to shut down for two weeks to slow the spread?  That was a year ago.

California, home of Cal Davis, is still mostly shut down.  How’s that working out?

For Gavin Newsom not so well.   He felt free to move about while instituting the lockdown and now he might get ousted.

Remember, feel free to stay home as long as you like.

And, you used to feel free to go to the beaches as well.