National

All D, No O

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

As 1980 turned to 1981, Carter was on his way out and Reagan was on his way in.

Jimmy’s welcoming gifts to Ronald were the mess that Iran was, a hostage crisis, an energy crisis, inflation, and a newly created Department of Education.

As 2024 turned to 2025, Biden was out and Trump was back in.

Joe’s welcoming gifts to Donald are the mess that Iran is, a hostage crisis, restrictions and bans on oil production, inflation, and a 44-year-old Department of Education.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

After 1980 it took the Democratic Party 12 years to recapture the White House.  And, it was helped greatly to get there by George H.W. Bush in year 10 saying loudly “Read my lips, no new taxes.”  Then he raised taxes.

Will it take the Democratic Party 12 years to recapture the White House this time?  Will they need a goof-up the size of Bush’s, a new identity, or both?

Why is a new identity needed?

The reasons are numerous.  The origin is debatable.

But it says here that it started in 2018 when the first four members of the squad were elected to Congress.  Young, eager, and diverse the four had grown to eight strong by 2022.

They came in loud and proud.  Nancy Pelosi tried to put them in their place in the Party but they’d have little to none of that.

By 2020 Joe Biden sold his soul to the far left to help get him elected.  He promised a female VP.  He promised a black female Supreme Court Justice.  He promised diversity, equity, and inclusion in his cabinet and administration.

Meritocracy was out.  Skin color and race-baiting were in.

He opened the border near and far.  He forgave student debt.  He brokered the Green New Deal.  He supported men in women’s sports.  He supported men in women’s bathrooms and locker rooms.

In short, he catered to the far left.  He was run by the far left.  He was beholden to the far left.  He even told us “They want me to leave the stage now and not answer your questions.”

And, out of that was born the party of common sense.  Imagine thinking that DJT would be looked at as the leader of the Common Sense Party.

Who’s leading the Dems these days? Maxine Waters screams daily into a bullhorn.  Take Chuck Schumer, please.  Nancy’s still leaning left, but is now supported by a HurriCane.

What’s the message?  Is anyone listening?

If you’re yelling you’re losing.  And, they are yelling “bigly” as 47 might say.

The current strategy is to tie Trump’s executive orders up in court and scream “Constitutional Crisis!”

But that’s defense.  Where is and what is the offense?

Meanwhile, Trump is about to put Iran and her proxies in place.  He’s gotten some and is about to get more hostages home be it the USA or Israel.  Drill Baby Drill!  And, DOGE is descending on the Department of Education.

Somehow it feels like 1980 all over again.

It’s not over for the Dems, not at all.

It’s always the darkest before dawn.

But, it sure is dark for now.

 

 

 

 

The Party’s Over

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

There’s not much difference between the word “dodge” and the acronym “DOGE.”  Capital letters aside, drop the letter “d” and voila.

But the USA that we lived in yesterday when four presidents consecutively dodged facing the burgeoning deficit and government waste is very different than the present.

George W started the reckless spending by exceeding the taxes collected by 4 trillion.  Barack followed, and in two terms rang up an 8 trillion dollar tab.  Trump 45, saddled with COVID bailouts ran through 7 trillion more than collected.  And Joseph Biden was sound asleep at the wheel as another 5 trillion piled on top.

Donald Trump 47 got elected and put Elon Musk in charge of finding and eradicating excess, fraud, duplication, and other unnecessary government waste.  DOGE, the unofficial non-paying Department of Government Efficiency, was born.

Warren Buffet once said, “You can tell who is skinny dipping when the tide goes out.”  Apparently, a lot of politicians and government agencies prefer au naturel.

The screaming is so loud that it hurts.  And that’s a good thing.

Imagine if the government treated the money like it was our own.  It is.  They just needed a stark reminder.

Musk has the blueprint in his hands.  He bought Twitter, then walked around the downtown San Francisco headquarters and found out what people there did for the organization.  He quickly realized a lot of them had no idea and provided no value.  Pink slips.

Why should the government be run any differently?

Last week his team uncovered 151 projects that received special funding whose expiration dates had come and gone as long as a decade ago and were still being funded.  Remember that trial subscription to Peacock?  You need to cancel it.

The whaling reached a crescendo yesterday when Musk suggested that USAID be abolished or greatly reorganized, and Trump nodded in the affirmative.  Be honest, 48 hours ago you had no idea that there was such a creature lurking in DC named USAID.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is the principal U.S. agency assisting countries recovering from disaster, escaping poverty, and engaging in democratic reforms.  It sounds nice, and it uses 40 billion of your tax dollars to assist.

The developments come after USAID’s director of security and his deputy were put on administrative leave after reportedly denying Musk’s cost-cutting task force access to its secure systems Saturday.  Translated, “We don’t want to show you who we’re funding and what their ’cause” is.

When Schumer, Warren(Pocahontas), Sanders, and AOC are upset, you know you’re onto something.  They’ve called Elon some unsavory things recently.  Wait till next week when the Department of Education goes up in smoke like the signals emanating from Warren’s teepee.

The questions are simple.  Do you want a bigger government or a smaller one?  Do you want to reduce debt or add to it?  Do you want to balance the budget or exceed it? The correct answers from here are smaller, reduce, and balance.

Do you want the service on the debt to surpass the entire Department of Defense budget?  It is this year for the first time.

It was a heck of a party.  But it’s past midnight on the debt clock.  Maybe the Cristal Champagne for $400 a bottle wasn’t a great idea after all.

Now the bill is due, and the hangover has already started.

Musk isn’t handing out any aspirin.

 

 

 

 

 

All Systems Go

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

If you’ve lived for a few decades or more you’ve seen a few things come and go.  In the last ten years, the comings and goings have come and gone at an accelerated pace.

Fast forward to the last few months and we’ve hit SpaceX speed.

DEI isn’t DEAD, but the Grim Reaper is in hot pursuit.  It’s hard to take the most divisive policy in a long time and use it to make America less divisive.  Meritocracy makes capitalism great again.

Misinformation and disinformation are getting missed and dissed to bring back good old information.   With a big assist from Elon Musk, we get to decide what is or isn’t factual.

The southern border is well on its way to being a border(a line separating two different geographies, philosophies, or countries) again.  Trump 1.0 lost a battle with Congress back then for $5 billion to finish a wall already started by his predecessors.  From then to now lives lost, children trafficked, and fentanyl smuggled collectively cost the US a price that you can’t put a tag on.

The “undocumented” are illegal aliens all over again.   The border czar from 2020 through 2024 loves a good word salad.

Law and order is pushing back hard on lawfare.  Biden and Trump pardoned enough criminals, whether charged, or not, convicted, or not to help take the fair out of lawfare.

Swiftly, bathroom use is returning to biological ID for entry.  Dress how you wish.  But when it’s time to go choose the door you open carefully.

Big Pharma might be in for a downsizing.  RFK Jr would like to help with the root cause of illness, addiction, and disease.  What you put in your mouth now causes the need to put a pill in later to rectify the wrong.  Did you know that in its history Pfizer has never made any medicine that cures what ails you in its entirety?

Binder sales have taken a hit.  Karine Jean Claude Van Damme Pepe Pierre made it a fashion piece or two around the White House attached firmly to her arms.  Twenty-seven-year-old Karoline Leavitt’s first press room briefing ushered in a new binderless era and laid down the rules for the legacy media assembled.

CNN’s Jim Acosta accosted any staff member of Trump 1.0.    Yesterday Jim resigned before financially-strapped CNN said the quiet part out loud.  Legacy media is listing badly from leaning too far left for too long.  Podcasts are in and broadcasts are out.

Like the weather wait a minute and we’ll soon learn what else has changed.

The fires are mostly out in LA, but DC is lit.

Nonsense is out and common sense is back.

For now, Trump 2.0 is all systems go.

 

 

 

It’s On in a Bigly Way

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

God Bless America ends “from sea to shining sea.”  But, should the final line be changed to “from sea to shining Gulf of America?”

It’s debatable, but rest assured there is a sea change in the air.   And, it was so obvious yesterday that it hit hard like a rare winter snowstorm in the deep south.

The contrast hasn’t been this stark since Ronald Reagan took over the mess left by Jimmy Carter.

Forty-Six had one foot out of the door but signed dozens of pardons for those not legally accused of a crime while investigating J6, much less imprisoned.  Forty-seven got his foot in the door and by nightfall had pardoned all but six of those imprisoned for their “crimes” on J6.

The pendulum stopped moving left around midnight on November 5th, 2024.  The pendulum began falling back to the center from there.  Yesterday, it accelerated past the midpoint.

As Joe Biden sat helpless and dumbfounded a few feet away, Donald Trump in his Inaugural Address undressed many of the policies ushered in during the Biden term.   Later he sat down and signed dozens of executive orders turning words into actions.  He delivered on promises from the campaign trail at a dizzying pace.

With a simple signature, the border was closed.  That wasn’t that hard after all.   The WHO once more became “who?”  DEI went off to DIE.

The country went from two genders in 2020 to 73 by 2024.  It swiftly reverted to two yesterday.

Donald wears it on his sleeve.  He likes the First Lady, but unlike the First Lady, he doesn’t keep things under his hat.  His pronouns are here/now.

Isn’t it a special day when free speech and common sense are back in style?

It must be.  Musk saw it as a way for him, his company, and his country to survive and eventually thrive.  Bezos and Zuckerberg saw it coming and borrowed the reverse of an old cigarette jingle.  It would be better to switch than fight.

Of course not everyone gets it.  That is fine.  Debate is what makes us great.

AOC skipped the festivities.  She refused to honor a convicted rapist she said.  George Stephanopoulos said the same on ABC a few months back.   ABC has fifteen million reasons to tone down the reckless rhetoric.  AOC might soon as well.

MSNBC and CNN saw Elon’s sheer exuberance for the moment as a Nazi hand signal.  Increasingly others aren’t very exuberant for legacy left-leaning media anymore.

Hillary Clinton snickered when Trump announced the desire to rename the Gulf of Mexico.  She wouldn’t fare very well at a poker table for dummies.

After three speeches, one sixty-minute no-notes press conference, and three inaugural balls in the evening 78-year-old President 45/47 was already in the Oval Office this AM.   His energy level is, as he might say, “bigly” higher than Biden’s.

There’s much work to be done and Congress needs to get after it as well.

If you prefer common sense yesterday was a good start.

 

 

 

2025 Has Arrived

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Twenty-twenty-four is all but out of the door.  Our fearless 2025 predictions have arrived.

The first six months follow.

January

Mike Johnson retains his House Speakership.  The Oregon Ducks capture Natty #1 in their school’s history beating Georgia 34-28.  Joe Biden wishes Jimmy Carter luck for the next four years on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration.   Dr. Anthony Fauci warns that the H-1B Visa is a variant of the Covid-19, SARS-CoV-2 KP.2.3 virus, that must be taken seriously.  Taylor Sheridan signs on with Paramount Plus to develop yet another series, this one tentatively titled New Jersey Drones.

February

Philadelphia and Buffalo send Super Bowl LIX to overtime before the Bills win their first Lombardi Trophy 34-28, oddly the same score as the CFP Championship.  President Trump begins the deportation of illegal immigrants and is forced to call out the National Guard in Chicago.   Troublesome interest rates sink the Dow Jones under 40,000.

March

Doug Emhoff and Kamala Harris announce their pending divorce declaring they both wish to be “unburdened by what has been.”  Florida beats Auburn to capture the NCAA March Madness Basketball National Championship in an all-SEC final.   Canada agrees to become a US Territory and is renamed North of North Dakota.

April

An EF3 tornado rolls through northeast Oklahoma causing 10 million dollars of improvements.  The World Health Organization recommends the removal of all birdhouses as the bird flu caseload reaches nearly 200 worldwide.  Mitch McConnel abruptly resigns from the Senate.  After spring practices conclude the NCAA transfer portal has more players in than out.

May

Donald Trump says that the US is exiting the WHO calling its leader Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus a bird brain with a long name.  California Angels OF Mike Trout is placed on the 60-day disabled list with a chronic hangnail.  Ukraine signs a treaty with Russia ceding Crimea over to Putin.  When Joe Biden was asked to comment from his Delaware beach chair, he says “ah, Crimea, crime,a, ah, crime” was already declining in the US under his watch.

June

Hollywood, CA one way UHaul rentals surpass all previous records as the Epstein List is set to release on June 25th.  The OKC Thunder beats the Boston Celtics 4-1 to capture their first-ever NBA Championship.  LeBron James retires and concludes his presser by saying “I diddy the best I could.”  Elon Musk, feeling the power from his non-government, government position says Mars is not the final destination.  He wants to launch a rocket aimed at Uranus.

 

July through December prognostications will hit Al Gore’s internet by week’s end.

In Plain Sight

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Two political campaigns culminated two weeks ago today.  One spent roughly 1.5 billion bucks and is 20 million in the red. The other spent about one-fourth of that and is headed to the White House.

How did we get here?  Perhaps you should saunter down your driveway this AM to retrieve your newspaper and “read all about it.”  It’s chilly.  Be sure to double-cinch your robe and put on the furry slippers first.

Maybe you don’t “take” the paper anymore.  “Anymore” might mean 20 years or so.  Maybe you don’t even watch the evening news anymore.

Each quarter Nielsen ratings show fewer Americans watch than the previous one.  Combined ABC, CBS, and NBC reach about 18 million views nightly these days.

And for two months if you turned on your TV you saw a Harris/Walz political ad.

How many views on YouTube did Joe Rogan’s three-hour podcast with Donald Trump have in the three days following its cast?  Thirty-eight million.  As Joe Biden would say, “Not a joke, folks!”

Harris was offered “free” airtime with Rogan and declined.  But, Saturday Night Live called and she was there in a New York minute.

Donald Trump and his team aggressively used social media platforms to refute Kamala Harris’ claims at her rallies in real time.  While Walz was waltzing on stage Team Trump was typing.  Social media posts cost very little.

Share research shows 46% of young people aged 19-29 voted for Trump, up from 36% in 2020.  That’s yuge.  They’re dancing the “Trump dance” from coast to coast nonstop.

Dour MSNBC reported this morning that nearly one in five Americans consider social media their first source for news.  In the important 19-34 age bracket two out of five do too!

MSNBC show anchors spent weeks calling Trump a fascist and comparing him to Hitler.  Morning Joe with Mika in tow spent last Friday at Mar-A-Lago making nice with President-Elect 47.  They say they want to call it down the middle now even if they still differ with many of Trump’s policy initiatives.  They won’t say if they kissed the ring or bent the knee.

Morning Joe’s producers woke up and smelled the coffee.  What’s brewing is a viewership shift from one platform to another and a philosophical shift from far left to some normalcy.

As usual, all of this was hiding in plain sight.

As usual, Musk saw it first.  He bought Twitter.  Free speech was unburdened from what had been.

Trump mastered the media manipulation game way back when.

Together they took down all seven swing states.

They may have taken down the legacy media with it.

Next, they tackle DC.

The WH press room will never be the same.

 

 

 

Hurricane DC

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

If you’re still driving around wearing a mask have we got good news for you?

The White House on Friday launched the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, half a year after Congress instructed the administration to set up a new arm in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

It is a now-permanent installment in Washington and will first be led by retired Major General Paul Friedrichs, a longtime biosecurity official. It comes roughly two months after the Covid-19 public health emergency ended and weeks after Covid-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha stepped down, reflecting an overall wind-down of the administration’s coronavirus efforts.

Just in time!

Pandemics are like hurricanes.  You know another one is coming.  Best be prepared.  You don’t know exactly where and when it will hit.  And, they both get named by the government.

There was Alpha and our favorite Delta AY.4.2 amongst many other COVID-19 variants that caused us to run to CVS for a booster or three.  Hurricanes Katrina, Ike, and Sandy needed no boosters, strong on their own accord.

Permanent installments in DC grow like hurricanes as well.  They start small, grow into an unstoppable fury, and leave a mess behind time and again.

After 9/11 the Transportation Security Administration was created.  It’s now a permanent installment as well.

As of the fiscal year 2020, the TSA operated on a budget of approximately $7.7 billion and employed over 47,000 Transportation Security Officers, Behavior Detection Officers, Transportation Security Specialists, Federal Air Marshals, and other security personnel.  The FY 2023 Budget is 34% higher at $10.3B and manned(or womanned) by 60,652 positions or 29% more fine government workers.

That’s Bidenomics!  Grow the government from the bottom up and the middle out.

Don’t you feel safer?  Remember to take off your shoes before going through the airport gauntlet, please.

You’d think that the combo of WHO, NIH, FDA, and the CDC would be able to handle the next time some Chinese bats take flight.  Or did it escape from the lab Anthony?

But, no.  It is time, or past time really, for another arm to be added to the many in DC there to serve you.

Thank goodness Biden and Kamala are urging the wealthy to pay their fair share.  As they remind us, there is still work to do.

Maybe the government is the virus, after all, it spreads just like a pandemic does.

Unfortunately, like COVID, there does not seem to be an effective vaccine to eliminate its growth.

 

 

 

On Deck

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

In the flyover state of Nebraska, the NCAA Men’s College World Series(CWS) is in full swing.  Last evening Wake Forest was eliminated, leaving LSU and Florida as the only two standing.

It’s promoted as The Greatest Show on Dirt.

And, it’s inching closer to winner take all.  Gone are wannabees Oral Roberts, Virginia, Stanford, Tennessee, TCU, and the aforementioned Wake Forest.

The entire event is a real slice of what is right in America.  Omaha puts its very best foot forward as the host.  If you flyover, you’ll miss it.

In all of America, the race for 2024 is in full swing as well.  Not one Republican entry has been eliminated yet.  But, the Democrats eliminated all of their wannabees before the race started.

It could be promoted as The Dirtiest Not So Great Show.

But isn’t it inching closer to Donald J Trump former President vs. sitting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr?

Sure there are Republican wannabee nominees like Chris Christie, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy, Larry Elder, Asa Hutchinson, etc.  Heck, even Robert Kennedy decided to disobey the DNC and announce his candidacy from the left side.

But, aren’t there really only two?

Maybe.  Maybe not.

Did you have Barack Obama(it was Hillary’s to lose) on your bingo card in 2008?  2012? How bout The Donald(it was Jeb Bush’s to lose) in 2016?  And, did you think Joe Biden(original signer of the Declaration of Independence) would garner the White House in 2020 straight from his basement, mask and all?

It seems, much like gravity, the race to the bottom is on.

More than 50% of Americans don’t want Trump to run.  More than 50% of Americans have seen enough of Joe Biden and want him to exit stage left or right.  Well, actually, his handlers would just like him to remember which side of the stage to exit daily as well, but we digress.

America is screaming for a leader louder than 20,000 jello-shot-filled LSU fans were for 10 innings last evening in downtown Omaha.

Maybe someone emerges from this pack unexpectedly.

But as of now, it seems harder than hitting a Paul Skenes fastball.

America only has its serious “For the World” series once every four years.

Hopefully, America doesn’t strike out in 2024.

 

 

 

You’ll Get Nothing and Like It.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

If you put 100 red ants and 100 black ants in a jar they peacefully coexist.  If you shake the jar they fight each other till death.

This sounds a lot like America today.  Who is shaking our jar?

Power-hungry politicians and click-hungry social media types come to mind.  Together they’ve told us repeatedly why their side or opinion is the only way and by the tens of millions we’ve followed like sheep to a shepherd.

The examples are plentiful.  Here is a simple one delivered yesterday.  It comes via tweet courtesy of the Minority Leader of the House, Hakeem Jeffries.

“More than 50 million Americans are food insecure.  President Biden and the Dems are working hard to address the hunger crisis.  Extreme MAGA Republicans are doing the exact opposite.”

Let’s break this down.

  1.  Do you really believe that more than 50 million Americans are food insecure, formerly known as hungry?  There are about 330 million of us, not counting the illegals that walk across unfettered.  That’s 15% or about one in six.  Unemployment is historically low at 3.5%.
  2.  Do you really believe that President Biden and Dems are working hard to address this crisis?  What are they doing exactly?  We see no bread lines, nor should we.  What’s the plan?
  3. It must be very hard work seeing as Biden has been in government since Moses parted the Red Sea.  Can we get a chicken in every pot already?
  4. We never ask for personal accountability because stupidity and dependency are the recipes to getting reelected, not cooking food.
  5. “Extreme” was a word that must have tested well when added to MAGA.  Joe Biden tossed it out about a year ago.  It used to be that MAGA folks were considered extreme.  Now we apparently have extreme extreme MAGA folks.  The great unifier he says he is.
  6. These extremists are doing the exact opposite.  Hmm.  That means that they are working hard to make sure 50 million people stay hungry.  How do you do that?  Does anyone really believe that?
  7. Predictably, thousands and thousands of tweeters lined up to share their two cents (with inflation that means about one cent now) about this carefully crafted Jefferies tweet.  Our guess is 50% think Jeffries is great, and 50% think he’s talking out of his hat again.

And, that’s how it works if you call that working.  Divide to conquer.  Ask for more money(we love when they call it resources) to throw at a “problem.”

Next thing you know they’ll tell you that the oceans are rising.  Let’s put more “resources” against it before lightning strikes this summer and causes a forest fire of all things.  Damn, hurricanes will be here before you know it as well.  Happens every year.

We’re picking on Jeffries, but we could pick on oodles of these mangy poodles.  He’s the leader of the minority party that represents nearly one-half of one-third of the three most important branches of government arguably in the world.  And, in that very important position, he lies daily for a living.

The Republicans get no pass here either.  Doesn’t it feel like all but one uni party?  It does because it is.

The biggest problem America has isn’t a lack of food.

It’s a lack of the basic understanding that you are an ant(maybe red, maybe black) in a jar that is being shaken daily.

 

Good Night Everyone

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

John Fetterman stumbled and bumbled through his debate last evening with Dr. Oz for the Pennsylvania Senate seat.  At least he has an excuse.  If his family, friends, and for that matter the DNC had a conscience, they would follow the science.

Speaking of doctors and following the science, Joe Biden, the CDC, and the NIH seem to be stumbling and bumbling with this pesky covid 19 pandemic.

It started about a year ago right now when the President, who stumbles and bumbles a bit himself, said, “For unvaccinated, we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death for themselves, their families, and the hospitals they’ll soon overwhelm.”  Looking back that seems overstated.

By June of this year, he was promoting a safe vaccine for children ages five and under.

The President then pivoted in a 60 Minutes interview in early September. “We still have a problem with Covid. We’re still doing a lotta work on it. But the pandemic is over. If you notice, no one’s wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape.”

And, yesterday, in remarks on Covid, before he rolled up his sleeve for yet another booster he said, ” Americans have a choice as to how bad COVID-19 could be this winter.”  He also warned, yet again, that more people are likely to die.    Maybe we aren’t in pretty good shape?

Giving a boost to the booster effort he continued, “It’s incredibly effective, but the truth is, not enough people are getting it,” Biden said.  “Now we need a shot just once a year.

Noticeably absent was CDC Director Rochelle Walensky from the group gathered to support Biden and his remarks.   Last Friday night the good Dr. Walensky tested positive for COVID-19.  She is up to date with her vaccines.  Consistent with CDC guidelines, she is isolated at home.

Remember, it’s incredibly effective.

Dr. Anthony Fauci was behind the President and smiling from ear to ear.  He misses the spotlight ever so much.  With Cuomo and Lemon off of CNN at night and Rachael Maddow seldom seen on MSNBC most evenings now, his path to a live camera to tell us “I am the science” is tougher.

Will Dr. Oz defeat Fetterman in two weeks?  If he does, the Senate is one big step closer to Republican control.

And, if they get that control, another good doctor will find a path to a live camera.  Dr. Rand Paul promises a full Senate investigation by the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions into the origin, treatment, payouts, and results of the last three years of the virus and the subsequent billions of jabs to save us all.

Susequently, that will get Dr. Fauci plenty of the live air time he covets whether he wants it then, or not.

“Goodnight everyone,” Fetterman said as the debate began last evening.

Kudos to him for stumbling into correctly reading the exhausted American psyche.

We’re all looking for a few good nights right about now.