National

The System Is (Not) Working

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Derek Chauvin got what he deserved.

He got a fair trial by a jury of his peers overseen by what seemed to be a very even-keeled judge all the while represented by a competent defense attorney.

George Floyd’s family and all of America got what it deserved- a guilty verdict on all three counts brought against a police officer who committed a very serious crime.

In other words, to use an old tried but true phrase, justice was served.  And, after forthcoming sentencing, Chauvin will serve plenty of time for this injustice.

So, as we look back, was all of the looting, burning, rioting, violence, and teargas necessary to get us to this verdict yesterday?  No, of course, it wasn’t.

But, the marching and chanting gone bad wasn’t about getting justice in court, was it?  No, rather it was about the outrage that such a crime, and particularly a crime against a black man by someone who is supposed to protect and serve happened in the first place.  As understandable as the outrage is, lighting the town on fire isn’t the answer.

What is the answer?  Well, for the young and naive, know that society has searched for that answer for centuries.  It matters not what the crime is, and who has done it against whom, we haven’t prevented anyone from doing just about whatever they, unfortunately, choose to do against their fellow man.

Call the previous statement defeatist if you wish.  It’s reality.   It’s much like the war on drugs. How is that coming along?

But, when you mix in a white cop killing a black man, you multiply America’s outrage by a factor of X.  It’s deemed social injustice.

Chauvin isn’t the first bad cop.  And, news flash, he won’t be the last.

So defund the police.  The fine line between civility and incivility would run amok in a matter of minutes.  It’s also reality.

If you look up the aforementioned “young” and/or “naive” in the dictionary you’ll likely see a picture of Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (AOC) next to it.  Predictably she had a strong point of view.

“It’s not justice. I’ll explain to you why it’s not justice. It’s not justice because justice is George Floyd going home tonight to be with his family.  Justice is when you’re pulled over, there not being a gun that’s part of that interaction because you have a headlight out. Justice is your school system not having or being part of a school-to-prison pipeline.

So, no, this verdict is not justice. Frankly, I don’t even think we call it full accountability, because there are multiple officers that were there. It wasn’t just Derek Chauvin. And I also don’t want this moment to be framed as this system working, because it’s not working.”

When does any murder victim come home to be with his family?  Ever?

George Floyd had his share of run-ins with the legal system.  It in NO WAY justifies his killing, however.  But, remember, amongst nine crimes Floyd committed one was an armed robbery of a couple in their home after he impersonated a police officer to gain entry.  He held a gun to the women’s abdomen while his cohorts in crime took what they wanted.

He was tried, found guilty, and served his time.  What makes that different than the process that Chauvin went through?  Two things make it different.

One, we hold our officers up to a higher standard.  We should.  And, we’ll be disappointed again and again for doing so when one in a hundred goes bad.   Two, it’s different because Chauvin’s crime was white on black while Floyd’s crime was black on white.  If you are an equality purist that shouldn’t matter either.

AOC says that the system is not working.  Did your school have a school-to-prison pipeline by the way?

Depending on your view, it never has.

Or, it always will.

And that goes for the system and the pipeline.

Lemons. Lemonade.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

If there was ever a debate about which amendment in the Bill of Rights was most important the point would be made.

Debating is free speech.  And free speech is the most prominent part of the First Amendment.  Case closed.

But, alas, the case against Minnesota policeman Derick Chauvin isn’t yet closed.  It’s gone to the jury which is also a right guaranteed by our founding fathers.

So, while a jury of his peers speaks freely (we hope) about the merits of the charge he is facing inside, the posturing has been exacerbated and accelerated on the outside around further police interaction with the public that it is supposed to protect and serve.

After 26-year veteran, Minnesota Police Officer Kim Potter said she mistook her gun for a Taser when she fatally shot Daunte Wright after a traffic stop last week she faces second-degree murder charges.  Do you want to talk about bad timing for a bad tragedy?

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib weighed in from her 13th District (west side of Detroit, Mi) two states over.  She posted on her Twitter account Monday in response to the shooting death of Daunte Wright.  She tweeted “It wasn’t an accident, policing in our country is inherently and intentionally racist.” She ended the tweet with “No more policing, incarceration, it can’t be reformed.”

So, forget due process she says, just end policing, and then you won’t have this problem any longer. Voila!  That might cause a few more problems, but we digress.

Rep Maxine Waters decided to travel from her home in California to Minnie.  Then she took to the Brooklyn Center, MN streets this past weekend along with other protesters of Wright’s death.   Waters responded to a reporter’s question that if Chauvin is not convicted of murder, protesters must ratchet up pressure and get “confrontational.”

“We’ve got to stay on the street and we’ve got to get more active,” Waters said. “We’ve got to get more confrontational. We’ve got to make sure they know we mean business.”

But, that’s when free speech could get expensive.  You can’t yell “fire” in a crowded theatre.  And, in this political theatre that’s where old Maxine might have crossed the line.

Forget censure in Congress which is a distinct possibility after it is brought to a vote.  She might have given the Chauvin defense attorneys the oxygen to light an appeals fire.

Presiding Judge Peter Cahill in this George Floyd murder case spoke freely as well.

“I’ll give you that Congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned. I’m aware of the media reports, I’m aware that Congresswoman Waters was talking specifically about this trial, and about the unacceptability of anything less than a murder conviction, talked about being confrontational.   This goes back to what I’ve been saying from the beginning. I wish elected officials would stop talking about this case, especially in a manner that is disrespectful to the rule of law.”

Whoopsie.

CNN host Don Lemon used his free speech pulpit to lecture to the ignorant and set the record straight.  He said that Rep. Waters  “Absolutely” should not have made the comments she did about reacting to the verdict in the Chauvin trial.  But he added  “everyone knows” she is “not calling for violence” and that “she makes a lot of white men uncomfortable.”

There you have it.  Who knew?  Everyone says Lemon.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

When life gives you Rashida and Maxine you get lots of chances to make a pitcher or two.

 

Just Checking

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

It’s fact-check time.  It’s truth serum time.  It’s an attempt at sanity in these insane times.  And, it starts now.

Are you for or against packing the U.S. Supreme Court?  Currently, nine justices preside.  The Democratic majority in the House of Representatives is champing at the bit to pack the court with four new appointees bringing the lucky number of black (can we still say that?) robes to 13.

If you are for it, would you also be for, say, four more to get to 17 if the Republicans retook control of both houses?  And, if that answer is a “yes,” which we doubt, how many would be too many in this race to stupidity?  What’s a good number to call it quits?  21?  27?  35?  51? 101? 1001?

Were you vehemently opposed to the cruel treatment of being placed in “temporary holding facilities,” aka “cages” that illegal minor immigrants that crossed our southern border were subjected to under the Trump Administration?

If you were, are you equally as outraged that the Biden Administration has not only carried on with that practice but seems to be putting more humans in even more cramped quarters?  Are you also disappointed that the temporary housing need has now invaded hotel chains in Texas at a cost to the US taxpayer of nearing a billion dollars and counting?

And, we presume that you are/were aware that the “cages” were built and first used under the Obama Administration.

And, what about that terrible, insensitive, prejudicial wall that Trump was building? Isn’t it great that Biden halted the construction?

If that is indeed a great dose of sanity and humanity we wonder if you were for or against any of the following?

  1.  The first barrier built by the U.S. was between 1909-1911; the first barrier built by Mexico was likely in 1918, and barriers were extended in the 1920s and 1930s.
  2.  President Bill Clinton approved the initial 14 miles of fencing along the San Diego–Tijuana border.   Construction began on this section in early 1993 and was completed by the end of the year.    Further barriers were built from 1994 under the presidency of Bill Clinton as part of three larger operations while he was president.
  3. The Real ID Act, signed into law by President George W. Bush on May 11, 2005, brought the total man-made built miles to 75.
  4. The Secure Fence Act of 2006, signed into law on October 26, 2006, by President George W. Bush authorized and partially funded the potential construction of 700 miles of physical fence/barriers along the Mexican border. The bill passed with supermajorities in both chambers.
  5. Construction continued and in May 2011, President Barack Obama stated that the wall was “basically complete”, with 649 miles of barrier constructed. Of this, vehicle barriers comprised 299 miles and pedestrian fence 350 miles. Obama stated, “We have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement.”
  6. And, finally, in 2017, post the Trump win came funding for a wider, taller, and more structurally sound wall.  Trump would say, “a very beautiful wall.”

Joe Biden was in a political office for all of the above, repeat all of the above, except border wall point number one and six.

Would you support the idea of the District of Columbia (Washington, DC) being granted statehood?

If so, would you also support US Territories, such as Puerto Rico coming on board?

Would it be ok if Texas split into five states?  Its state constitution had provisions written in it to facilitate such a move when the Republic thereof was admitted to statehood.  It should be noted that federal law may supersede that one though.  But, stranger things have happened deep in the heart of Texas.

Fifty existing plus DC plus PR plus five in Texas would equal 57 states.  Coincidentally that is the exact same number Obama said he visited during the 2008 election.   What a visionary he was/is.

Did you get a vaccine?  Are you still wearing a mask afterward?  What good is the vaccine if there is any fear that you can still a) catch the damn thing, or, b) spread the damn thing?  Was the mask worthwhile, then, in the first place?  Variants, you say?  Two masks?

Should Americans be forced into showing a vaccine ID card?  Would it suffice at polling places for those damn conservatives that still think you should need a valid ID to vote?

Maybe every time we vote we should get vaccinated for or against what we put in office.

Just checking.

 

Dinner Is Served

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Guess who’s coming to dinner? Well, the answer depends if you are talking about short-term or long-term.

In the short run, it should be your family and close friends.

In the long run, it could be your new neighbors.

Should be, we said, family and friends in the short term.  But, the honorable Dr. Fauci weighed in on Sunday.  “It’s still not OK” to gather indoors. He cited the “level of infection” as “still really disturbingly high.”

“So, if you’re not vaccinated, please get vaccinated as soon as vaccine becomes available to you, and if you are vaccinated, please remember that you still have to be careful and not get involved in crowded situations, particularly indoors where people are not wearing masks,” he stated.

“And for the time being, until we show definitively that a person who’s vaccinated does not get this subclinical infection and can spread to others, you should also continue to wear a mask.”

Who knew?  Now the vaccinations might not work.  All of this free government advice (coercion) comes from a man who just over a year ago said wearing a mask was not necessary.

But if you can wait for the $2.5 trillion infrastructure bill, which has little to do with infrastructure, to pass you could invite your new neighbors over for some indoor mask-wearing chow time.   Neatly tucked inside of the bloated bill is a measly $20 billion designed to turn current single-family dwelling neighborhoods upside down.

You’ve heard of Section 8 housing, haven’t you?  Stated simply, if you don’t have enough income to afford a certain home or apartment for rent, the government will provide the difference based on income or lack thereof qualifications.  The new bill would take that concept into a neighborhood near you.

The infrastructure bill, also known as the American Jobs Act, would remove the zoning that exists for single-family homes across the nation and allow tear-downs of them to build multi-unit apartments next to them or to convert existing single-family homes into multi-family dwellings.  Anywhere, anytime.

What a concept it is.  The government hands out money.  Jobs are created in the construction industry.  Landlords get paid.  Renters get better housing in any neighborhood of their choosing.  Corporations get taxed at a higher rate to pay for some of this plan.    Consumers pay more for what corporations make. Debt continues its climb.  And, you get new neighbors and plenty of them.

Viola!  Easy peasy.  No wonder it’s called the American Jobs Act.

And, now you can have all of the new neighbors that you want, or don’t want, over for dinner.  Hell, throw a block party.

The fact that we don’t choose our neighbors (and now not our neighborhood either) doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be good neighbors.

Invite Dr. Fauci too.  But, insist that he wear a mask, dammit.

 

Robin Hood Rides Again

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Politicians make strange bedfellows.  What’s old is new.

Do you know what you get when you cross-breed two old-school famous sayings?  You get Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez(AOC).

Old Bernie turns 80 this coming September.  He’s been doing all of the Vermont people’s business since 1991 in one or the other Halls of Congress.  That’s a smooth 30 years.

NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 19: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) endorses Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) at a campaign rally.

Young AOC turns 32 this coming October.    She’s been doing some of the New York people’s business since 2019 in the House of Representatives.  That’s two years and counting.

President Joe Biden revealed his $2 trillion-plus infrastructure plan late last week shortly after the $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill two weeks prior.  Never mind that the relief bill only had 9% of the money earmarked for direct money to the citizens nor that that infrastructure plan (dubbed the American Jobs Plan) has only about 25% for traditional (roads, bridges, airports) infrastructure repair or improvements.

A BBR staffer bumped into a U.S. Rep Saturday who will remain nameless.  That Congressperson summed the giveaways up perfectly,  “you can sell anything you want when you use the words ‘Covid relief.’  And who can possibly be against ‘jobs’?”  Indeed.  Sounds like a chicken in every pot and pork for all.

But wait, there’s more!  Or at least AOC and Bernie wish it to be so.

AOC applauded Biden’s “vision” on the infrastructure plan but exclaimed that it is not sufficient and “needs to be way bigger.”  She went on, “we’re the richest country in the world, it should be $10 trillion.”

Senator Sanders said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that he was working to include “human infrastructure” into President Joe Biden’s infrastructure package.  “One of the areas that I am working on right now is the need to expand Medicare in order to provide dental care and hearing aids and eyeglasses for the elderly. Is that infrastructure? I think it is. Look, Jake, the truth is, in so many ways, we are behind many other countries throughout the world in providing for working families and the elderly and the children. And I think now is the time to begin addressing our physical infrastructure and our human infrastructure.”

Who knew infrastructure had so many definitions?  And, if you can’t hear people blowing horns at you nor see the red light in front of you how can you take advantage of all that new infrastructure?  We digress.

Is it any wonder that AOC backed Sanders’s latest failed bid to reach the Democratic nomination for President?

AOC called us rich and therefore we snap our fingers and can afford it. Oh, to be young and naive all over again.

Sanders makes it overtly simple.  He is a Socialist.

Biden said no one making under $400k will have to pay for any of it.  Well, the corporate tax of currently 21% recommended returning to the previous 28% might cost the consumer a titch we suppose.

“No president has ever raised business taxes to recover from an economic crisis,” Rep. Kevin Brady, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee, said. “This couldn’t come at a worse time.”  Details, details.

In 13th Century England, Robin Hood robbed from the rich and gave to the poor.  Supposedly.

Robinhood.com, the investor website, got in trouble playing games with GameStop stock a few weeks back.

And now this young (AOC) and old(Sanders) Robin Hood duo are playing a different game that needs to stop.

Margaret Thatcher knew as much many, many moons ago.  She said, “the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”

 

 

Old Dogs, New Tricks

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Just two months after the “aggressive behavior,” or “insurrection” if you prefer, at the Capitol Building the U.S. government faced yet another major uprising last week, this time in the White House.

According to a report, President Joe Biden’s German Shepherd named “Major” had a serious “biting incident” with White House security late last week.  As a result, Biden’s dogs were returned to Delaware after Major’s “aggressive behavior” incident, said the CNN report.

 This photo didn’t age well. None of it.

It’s usually only news these days when man bites dog, but CNN always takes you the extra mile.

Time heals all wounds, doesn’t it?

Maybe it doesn’t, at least not yet in the fractured, cracked, divided, tumultuous, unsettled Republican Party.

Donald Trump doesn’t like having his name thrown around by the RNC these days.

In a Monday letter to Trump attorney Alex Cannon, RNC chief counsel J. Justin Riemer said the committee while fundraising  “has every right to refer to public figures as it engages in core, First Amendment-protected political speech.”

He maintained that Trump had also “reaffirmed” to the chair of the RNC, Ronna McDaniel, over the weekend “that he approves of the RNC’s current use of his name in fundraising and other materials.”

Trump responded to the letter with a statement that put that agreement in doubt. “No more money for RINOS,” or Republican in name only, he stated. “They do nothing but hurt the Republican Party and our great voting base.  They will never lead us to greatness.”   He’s nothing if not “like a dog on a bone.”

Hmm.  One of the two sounds like a head fake.

The RNC wants to use Trump’s name for the good that he brings to the party-aka money and loyalty from his base.  Conversely,  Trump’s instinct must be to control the use of his name and image to position himself as the undisputed leader of the GOP.

Further, he wants to raise his own money to, amongst other initiatives, exact revenge by backing challengers to Republican incumbents who crossed him by voting to impeach him for inciting the Capitol riot.  Trump has the shock collar out.

All of this divisiveness in the RNC when the Great Unifier just took over the Oval Office seems tawdry at best.

But, Trump is Trump.  Remember, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

And, in the White House or in pursuit of the same, it’s a major mistake to bite the hand that feeds you.

 

 

Knuckle Scraping

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

President Joe Biden accused Texas Governor Greg Abbott of “Neanderthal thinking” yesterday after Abbott announced that the great state of Texas was now “100 percent open and a mask mandate was no longer in place.”

Mississippi’s governor did essentially the exact same thing on the exact day but nobody really cares about people in the great state of Mississippi, or so it seems.  Or, the electoral votes pale by comparison.

You see the real prize for the group that lives to divide (they call it unifying) is Texas.  They thought they had a shot with Beto v Cruz four years ago.  Somewhat close.  They thought they had a shot with Biden v Trump four months ago.  Somewhat closer.

Biden, we are mostly sure, didn’t think this way when the teleprompter and/or notes told him to utter “Neanderthal.”  He was looking out for the citizens of course.

After all, he flew in just last week to survey the land and the snowmen that had frozen the week prior.  Why he even assembled almost all of the “leaders” for a quick photo op and some words of unifying encouragement to help out with the thaw.

He recognized Congresswoman Shirley Jackson Lee for her help.  He meant Sheila Jackson Lee surely.  And, don’t call me surely.

He stumbled terribly over another name or two as well.  Then, he stopped himself and asked himself, “wait, what am I doing?”  Abbott was six feet from Biden and surely (again) wondered the same.

Biden didn’t mention the governor in his “pat on the back, mispronunciation, obligatory before I board Air Force One gathering.”  Hmm.

Maybe the third time is a charm.  Let’s gang up on Abbott.

Was Biden’s assessment of Abbott’s Neanderthal thinking right on?  Yes and yes seems to be the two answers depending upon who you ask.

Back when man scrapped his knuckles along the ground he could choose to come out of his cave when he wanted.  If danger lurked he could choose to stay put.  That sounds about like what Abbott has opened back up.

But, no mask?  Wow!  Maybe Texas could have opened back up and at least kept the mask mandate in place.  Some people think a mask helps while others don’t.

At least a mask makes it appear that you care.  And,  appearances count for everything.  Ask Biden.  He appeared in Texas and thinks he somehow helped warm it up while others don’t.

Heck, even Dr. Fauci who surely(and again) is old enough to remember his first cave thinks masks are important.  Now.

Although, the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the chief medical advisor to the President said almost a year ago today(3/8/20) as we first got into his mess “that there is no reason to be walking around with a mask.”  Then.

So now and then we change our minds.

But, for those that eye Texas as the ultimate prize, they can only think Abbott has lost his.

Biden can relate.

Has the governor created another of those dreaded super spreader moments?

Time will tell.

But for the left, now’s the time to use every bit of it as political capital.  They do it well and they do it often.

 

 

 

 

Hot Air

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Opportunity.

When one sees it, one must capture it.

So it goes on the national political scene where an opportunity is rarely missed.  As Henny Youngman might say, “take last week, please!”

With so much cold air blowing down into Texas, the hot air emanating from all comers was coming from all corners.  Hot takes were aplenty on the existential threats that plague us so.  Climate change and coronavirus were topics 1 and 1a.

Al Gore invented the internet and became an authority on climate change.

Bill Gates one-upped him and gave us the programming language software to run the microchips that run the internet and now is following in Gore’s nonfossil footprints.

Gates weighed in Sunday on his latest endeavor.  “The changes in the wind patterns are allowing those cold fronts to come down from Canada more often,” Gates explained. “There’s a pattern of wind that, … as it gets warmer, that breaks down. There’s no doubt that we’re putting CO2 into the atmosphere. There’s no doubt that that increases temperatures and that affects the weather. ”

So warmer winds made the colder winds blow in Texas.  Who knew?  Ted Cruz did.  Apparently, the wind change stopped at the border though as Cruz took a fossil-fueled jet down to Mexico to avoid the resultant freeze and snow if only for a day or so.

Gates continued, “You know, there’s no magic date that it’s all great until then, and it’s terrible once you cross that threshold. It’s pretty linear as far as we know. 2050 happens to be the soonest realistic date for the world to change all of these source emissions.

Luckily we have more time than some of those also-ran politicians that fell by the wayside told us we have left.  Remember when Liz Warren, Andrew Yang, Cory Booker, and Julian Castro one-upped each other with the time left to save our planet?  Eleven years said one, eight years said the other. Five years anyone?

Castro said it was already too late.  Dammit.

Thankfully Sheila Jackson Lee and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez rushed down from Washington to help in the present while we debate the time left for this planet.  They handed out thousands of free lunches and warm blankets to those without in the deep south during the deep freeze. Fix the grid already and you don’t have to have to fill brown boxes.

How did they get from Washington DC to Texas so quickly?  Our guess is on a fossil fuel burning 737.

Say it slowly, pho-to op-por-tun-i-ty.  Where were you, Ted?

Meanwhile, an estimated 99,763 people in the U.S. have died due to complications from the coronavirus during Biden’s first month in the White House, according to statistics provided by Johns Hopkins University.

When he was campaigning he told us Trump had no plan to combat the virus, but that he (Biden) did.  Maybe that was a bit of hot air unto itself from now Prez 46?

“There’s nothing we can do to change the trajectory of the pandemic in the next several months,” said Biden last month, after being sworn into office.

New Yorkers beg to differ. The U.S. Department of Justice has reportedly launched an investigation into New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s (mis)handling of the state’s nursing homes and other long-term care facilities during the pandemic.  This can’t be true, can it?   Cuomo wrote a book patting himself on the back about how he handled it so well.

NY City Mayor Bill de Blasio blew in to weigh in.  He thinks that Cuomo is bullying all of his lieutenants into toeing the company line about how well he handled the crisis.  “A lot of people in New York State have received those phone calls,” continued de Blasio. “The bullying is nothing new.   No public servant, no person who’s telling the truth should be treated that way.”

We actually need to eliminate bulls to halt climate change, but we digress.

However, de Blasio might have a solution that the rest of us, including Dr. Fauci, overlooked.

“Of all the things that we’ve learned in this crisis, maybe the most profound is the power of a mask,” said de Blasio during a Thursday press briefing. “What we’re saying today is, time to double up.”

“Two masks are better than one,” the mayor added. “Make it a double.”

Who knew that the solution all along was right under (or over) our nose?

Meanwhile, it will be 70 degrees in Texas today.

Like in politics the hot winds are blowing again.

 

 

 

 

Talent on Loan From God

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Yesterday God called back the talent he had loaned out to Rush Limbaugh.

“With talent on loan from God, it’s Rush Limbaugh,” part of how the intro to the daily conservative three-hour show went.  And, went.  For three hours a day, for 52 weeks, and for 32+ years the solo voice behind the golden mike, comfortably ensconced in the EIB(Excellence in Broadcasting) studio, offered lectures in advanced conservative studies as he put it.  Over six hundred stations globally offered his “course.”

His reach and his resilience are unmatched.

Limbaugh is regarded far and wide as the savior of talk show radio regardless of your political preference or party affiliation.

But, he was so much more than that to so many.  The charitable donations of his money, time, or airtime were far too numerous to count and far too generous for even a man of his wealth.

But he was so much more than that.  His passion for his country, his vision for how it was, and how it could and should be, was unwavering.  Guiding principles never go out of style.  You might disagree with the “how” but you’d be a fool to disagree with the “what” and the “why.”

Rush shaped lives.  Rush changed lives.  Rush was bigger than life.

And, yet, he had his missteps and faults.  Prescription drugs and a few wrong turns down the racial rabbit hole were all too well documented.  But, we’d guess God just gave him a fast pass ticket through the pearly gates.  Life is after all a roller coaster, isn’t it?

Fox News commenters, a video of him receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor at President Trump’s State of the Union(SOTU) in February of 2020, and President Trump himself all intersected on the Fair and Balanced network yesterday shortly after his passing.

And, that confluence is an example of where America got it all right and yet all wrong.  Rush would tell us so in comical and wise detail if he had but one more day to use his fine audio pipes.

Bill Hemmer asked Trump to watch along with the audience the SOTU moment when he awarded Rush the medal.

As Trump spoke directly to Rush and his wife seated in the balcony, behind the Prez was the one and only Nancy Pelosi.  She thought so little of the moment that she turned her body and therefore her view well away from Trump and even further away from the about to be anointed Rush.  She rifled through the paper that her SOTU copy was printed on like Amazon’s Alexa’s best shuffle.  So childish, like Trump.

Should anyone turn their back on Muhammed Ali, Bill Clinton, George Clooney, or countless others if they were getting a lifetime achievement award regardless of your beliefs about their beliefs?  No. No.  No.  Respect is earned and should always be recognized.

The Republican congressmen and women roared.  The Democratic ones sat in silence.  Maybe you didn’t like what he stood for, but at the very least you could have stood up for the presentation out of the respect you had (or should have had) for his place in American history.  Shameful.

And then Hemmer made the mistake of asking Trump what Rush told him after the November 3rd election.  Trump immediately launched into saying that Rush thought he won, and Americans thought he won, and Trump himself thought he won.  So childish, like Pelosi.

You take the low road and I’ll take the high road.

Even on his last day Rush would have dissected his own moment, found a way to make sense of it all, pointed us in a better direction, and stayed mostly above the fray.

America lost a great one yesterday, all of America that is.

So, who possibly can take Rush’s place?

The answer is no one even if you have considerable talent on loan from God.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PA, QB’s, KXLPP, and Phil

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The state of Pennsylvania has produced more great quarterbacks than any other.   Namath, Unitis, Kelly, Marino, and Montana hail from all over the Keystone State as it is known.

And, as of today, it will have produced yet another.  This one is tasked with leading the most important team of all, the United States.  His name is Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. and he was born in Scranton, PA way back in 1942. 

If you listen to those who voted for him, Joe’s facing fourth and long given the job done by his predecessor, outgoing QB Donald J. Trump.

But, undaunted, the Scrapper from Scranton has promised much to many.  His game plan is aggressive on day one and even more so in the first 100 days.

One of the first plays he is expected to call is a halt to the Keystone XL Pipeline Project (KXLPP).

If you’re not familiar with the project here’s where the bouncing ball stands after three phases were completed.  The pipeline became well known when a planned fourth phase, Keystone XL, attracted opposition from environmentalists, becoming a symbol of the battle over climate change and fossil fuels. In 2015 Keystone XL was temporarily delayed by then-President Barack Obama. On January 24, 2017, President Donald Trump took action intended to permit the pipeline’s completion. On January 17, 2021, it was announced that President-elect Joe Biden planned to cancel the Keystone XL project during his first days in office.

You’d think that it’s the first of its kind as opposed to likely the safest of its kind.

Opponents cheered.  If you’re in the stands waving pompoms for the Green New Deal, it’s a touchdown.  Proponents jeered.  If you’re a member of one of the four national unions that have nearly 7000 of their teammates working on it, or if you prefer North American oil refined in North America, you booed lustily.

So the Keystone State commander in chief will punt the political football known as the Keystone Project down the field.

And, that’s how it goes these days.  Every four years we spend a lot of time, energy (not the dreaded fossil fuel type), and money undoing what we’ve been doing.  Next up immigration laws, then the dreaded wall, then corporate taxes.  Then?  Well, how about the inheritance tax?  How dare you die and leave your hard-earned money to your family!

It’s hard to win the office and keep the office when 50% of the stands are filled with the opposition to your game plan.  It’s harder still when you make choices like stopping the KXLPP.  The union vote of confidence is waining and you just kicked off.  Fifty percent of 50% of 50% of 50% is, well you understand, not enough after four years in the biggest league of them all.

And, speaking of kicking off, this QB is a mere 78 years old as he takes office, but we digress.  Former Oakland Raider QB George Blanda grew up in Pennsylvania as well.  Blanda retired from pro football in August 1976 as the oldest player to ever play at the age of 48.  Maybe 78 is the new 48?

Blanda played in four different decades.  Biden has been in political offices of one kind or another for at least that many.

With that type of longevity, you must be pretty good at knowing when to run v. when to pass.

Good luck Mr. QB President-elect Biden.

Puxatawny Phil will be watching.  He too is from PA.  Will he see his shadow, take his ball, and go home?  Or does hope eternally spring early this spring?