Politics

And the Pendulum Swung

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Sixth grade science teaches us that a pendulum can only swing so far in one direction.  It’s momentum is slowed, then eventually halted, by its center of gravity and gravity itself.  That wise professor Nancy Pelosi gave several freshman Democrats a refresher course in just how that pendulum “thing” works yesterday.

Just six weeks or so after hugs and smiles and poses for group pictures had the Democrat freshman representatives positively giddy about a progressive future without greenhouse gasses and that gas-bag Donald Trump guy able to get in the way, Nancy became the center of gravity.  And, suddenly the swing to the left met gravity.

Alexandria Octavio Cortez (AOC) has The Green New Deal and dozens of other far left newbies had the pitchforks and lanterns.  The hunt for green October and the head (figuratively) of Donald Trump was on.

Nancy cleared her throat and in her best Lee Corso voice, pencil in hand, said “not so fast my friends on the left.”  That’s right.  It took a left coast, left leaning liberal to slow the roast.  She said, “I’m not for impeachment. Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country. And he’s just not worth it.”   And just like that the old guard put the new guard in place all the while taking a cheap shot at The Donald.

And just like that the old guard put the new guard in place in 2014.  Then it was John Boehner, who took the gavel from Nancy, and Mitch McConnell who relegated the Tea Party incoming revolution to the last row of the Senate and House floors.   Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and a band of brothers had the music momentum stopped.  These upstarts had gone just far enough.  Rhinos forever!  And just like that the darn center of gravity, like Father Time, remained undefeated.  The pendulum headed back towards the middle.

So, where to from here?  AOC and her nearly 60 new Democrat friends feel empowered by the progressive wave that retook the house.  Surely they can push the Green New Deal.  Cost might be a problem though.  Estimates to actually act on its merits range from 40 trillion to nearly 100 trillion, or between 8 and 25 times the yearly federal revenues tax dollars received.

The cost of a Chick-fil-A meal is far less than that.  Sarah Palin left an aforementioned Tea Party rally in 2013 and proudly bought a couple of no. 1 value meals. It made international headlines as a show of support for the conservative christian right led Tea Party and the conservative christian right leadership of Chick-fil-A.  The restaurant chain was under fire then because they closed (and still do) on Sundays.  Heathens demand that the right give them the right to chicken seven days a week.

Support came to the left led Green New Deal yesterday when noted nutritionist, right coast NY Mayor Bill de Blasio proudly announced that soon NY public school lunches would enact, drum roll please, “meatless Mondays.”  Surely this will be a great first step in reducing those pesky emissions all the while helping our young eat healthier.  Government sure knows how to look out for its tired and its poor who know no better.

Perhaps the long running,successful, cow survival campaign by ChickFilA is now dated.  In place of “Eat Mor Chikin” sparing cows it could be “Eat Mor Letus.”  You would save (not kill) two animals with one slogan.  PETA would be so proud.

Speaking of “Letus,” let us pray that sanity returns soon.

Or, it returns at least before the cows come home.

 

 

 

$22,103,879,734,119 and Counting. But, Who is Counting?

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

As a gloomy February gave way late last week to a gloomy early March, $21 trillion in US debt and climbing gave way to $22 trillion in US debt and climbing.  But who is counting?  Talking about grey skies and cold temperatures is about as sexy as talking about debt.  It depresses one we suppose.

But, we wonder as out loud as we can, shouldn’t we talking about the debt NOW?  And shouldn’t we do something about it NOW?  We wonder if this isn’t something that both sides of the very parted aisle in Washington could agree on.  Last year’s roughly $800 billion deficit (money the US government spent in excess of what it took in) will look like it’s been on the Keto diet compared to the $1 trillion guesstimate that 2019 is shaping up to be.

By the time Barrack Hussein Obama left the White House in early 2017 the debt of ALL of the nation’s drunken overspending actually doubled under his watch.  Before anyone says he had to do it to stimulate the economy, the answer is no he didn’t.  You don’t have to do anything except pay taxes.  And, apparently you aren’t paying enough, that is, unless you think you are already paying too much.

And there in lies the crux of it all.  Both sides of the argument want to spend on programs and projects that appeal to their base.  And both sides talk around a game of “we need to spend less.”  Yet, at least one side thinks that we are taxed too heavily.

Obama wasn’t the only prez in charge to see wildly ballooning debt.  George W. liked to dole it out big time too.   He may have gotten that bad habit from his dad who rang it up like another round with the boys at the club.

In round numbers the debt has now reached $60 thousand for every legal US citizen and $180 thousand for every taxpayer.  We could solve this today if you would reach for your checkbook, dust off the dust, and write a quick one to the US Treasury for $60k.  One problem is that each of your children would need to as well, and it’s doubtful that they will ever even know what a checkbook is.  Has anyone named a child Venmo yet?  Our guess is yes.

Donald Trump spoke about the debt while campaigning.  He said on a live broadcast to his biggest cheerleader, Sean Hannity, that he favored the penny plan to reduce the deficit and eventually the debt.  The penny plan simply was a commitment to spend 99 cents on all of that which you spent a dollar on the year prior.  If you did this in seven years you would actually retire the entire debt, then $20 trillion.  Meanwhile, in his first two years the debt has leapt up two more rungs.  Sad.

However doing so would be like committing to the Keto diet, or any diet for that matter.  What are you willing to give up?  Or, would you just prefer to gorge yourself to death?

US Debt live billboards are posted in a few places in our countryside, a very few places.  Each time we hit a another depressing trillion milestone somebody grumbles about it and then we forget about it until we hit another milestone.  It reminds us of the assault on “assault weapons.”  Children at school are shot.  Proponents of gun control say we told you so.  Someone in Congress introduces new, stricter gun control legislation.  It dies without a vote  just like the very unfortunate children whose tragedy prompted the legislation.  Then, no one talks about it until it happens again.  It’s like the instructions on the back of a shampoo bottle.  Wash.  Rinse.  Repeat.

The Keto diet craze is sweeping across America.  How about we put America’s spending on the same healthier path?

In the time it took to write this (about and hour) the debt has ballooned to $22,103,949,632,268 which is an increase of nearly $60 million.

Keto for President in 2020.  MALA.  Make America Lean Again!

 

 

Elijah and the Karaoke Singers Hit a Few Low Notes.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Infrequent visits to karaoke bars have all resulted in the same result for this writer.   Friends, family, strangers, and bouncers alike all highly recommended that I “keep my day job.”  Well, their point is understood to a point.  Yesterday, if you had a day job good for you.  Those job responsibilities hopefully kept you safely away from a live stream or TV and therefore from watching the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee hearings.

The plea deal guilty Michael Cohen, aka Donald Trump’s decade long plus personal lawyer, took an oath to tell the truth to answer questions from blood thirsty Republican and Democrat Representatives.  It was the same pledge he took a while back then summarily lied through his pearly whites.

His 30 minute long (unprecedentedly long some said) opening manifesto only occurred after a vote to postpone was rejected by the majority Democrats.  It seems like the Republicans didn’t take too kindly to the prior night’s coaching and prepping session Cohen took part in with honorable reps, Adam Schiff among them.  And so Cohen began his 1800 second assault on anything his attorney, Lanny Davis (the Clinton family’s honorable lawyer and confidant) and he could think about to poke, jab, and stab at President Trump.  The speech touched on racism, womanizing, Stormy Daniels, hush money, repayments, son’s of Trump, Russian collusion (except he couldn’t call it collusion because of that silly under oath thing), payoffs, Trump Towers, and the like.

It even painted a picture of a Donald Trump picture, er portrait.  Cohen orated that Trump instructed Cohen to insure that a straw bid occur at an auction where Trump’s portrait was up.   As the last item in the auction a 60k bid secured the piece and secured the fact that it was the highest price paid for any portrait offered.  Cohen told us in this rundown that Trump has a big ego.  The hearings likely cost taxpayers far greater than 60k a minute.  So America paid about 180k to learn that Trump has a high opinion of himself.  Quite revealing isn’t that?

Then the fun really began.  Democrats asked if Cohen knew of any Trump drug use.  They asked if he ever provided money to any woman for “personal healthcare.”  Each of the Republican reps spent their five minutes calling Cohen a convicted felon, known liar, jealous lawyer, and scorned “White House employee want to be.”

What substance came of all of it?  Little.  The Russian collusion theory should now be put to rest once and for all.  But it won’t be. Trump reimbursed Cohen over 12 months for silencing Stormy days before the election.  Shameful perhaps.  Criminal? Nah.  Paging the Mueller Investigation.  Mr. Mueller what have you?

When it was all done Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings eloquently and passionately told the honorable committee’s rank and file, Cohen, and a worldwide TV audience that “WE ARE BETTER THAN THIS!”  He also asked that we leave our democracy in a better place than we found it.  It sounded like he wanted to Make America Great Again.

Was this entire day the first step, launched by the Lanny Davis aided Cohen speech towards finding something/anything to eventually vote to impeach Donald Trump?  Perhaps.  Perhaps.

And perhaps it is once again a loud, Cummings loud, reminder that votes really, really matter.  The American people voted Trump into office in November 2016.  The American people voted and enough Democrats won in November 2018 to flip the House to the Democrats.  The Oversight Democrats voted to make disgraced and disbarred Michael Cohen their star witness to dig dirt on you know who.   It was these same Democrats that voted to not postpone the hearings with the coaching so fresh in Cohen’s mind.  If the House stayed red there would have been no Cohen testimony.

Will the next big vote that matters eventually be cast by the House to attempt to over throw Trump?  Or will it be in the general election in November of 2020 to vote for or against Trump?  Cohen warned us in his closing remarks that if it were the latter that he had concerns that the transition from Trump to “fill in the blank” could be accomplished peacefully.  Over Cohen’s right shoulder Lanny smiled.  Mission accomplished.

We looked carefully at how the committee conducted itself in its “day job.”

We hope that they can sing.

 

New York Makes an Amazonian Sized Mistake

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

It’s old news to you now that Amazon, Inc., try as it might to not, decided to pull the plug on their new New York headquarters #2.  A year-long “contest” ended with Virginia and New York both winning the “Amazon please be thy neighbor” prize.  But, then New York started acting like a petulant child.  The new news is a peek behind the curtain that fascinates.

This link is an open letter from a NY official that details the why of the wow.  Reading the details is like watching a train wreck in slow motion.   Wow indeed!

Start spreading the news, New York, New York failed to deliver a huge, gift wrapped economic boost to its people.

“Made in China” made February 21st Relevant

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Yearly February 21st holds little cache’.  Sure it’s a week after Valentine’s Day so it might be remembered for throwing out dead roses that warmed hearts for about five minutes.  But in 1972 February 21st was a day that warmed an ice-cold relationship and in turn gave hope to a world that had plenty of cold wars brewing.

President Richard M. Nixon arrived in Beijing, the capital of the People’s Republic of China, on the first ever US President’s visit to the world’s most populous nation. Because the U.S. federal government had formerly opposed China’s communist government since it took power in 1949, Nixon was also the first president to visit a nation not recognized by the United States. In Beijing, President Nixon met with Chairman Mao Zedong.

At the Shanghai Communique on February 27, Nixon and the Chinese premier agreed to lessen the risk of war, expand cultural contacts between the two nations, and establish a permanent U.S. trade mission in China.  The two leaders also secretly discussed how they could work together to carefully watch the growth of Soviet power in Asia and elsewhere around the globe.

It was progress, but it was begrudging and it churned forward slowly.  As the years wore on the trade between the two superpowers grew and grew.  But so did the trade imbalance and the tariffs imposed by China.  Both have risen geometrically and unchecked by the US.

And now a mere 47 years later President Trump is attempting to tackle it.  He is seeking what he calls trade equality.  In short he states that he wants to balance the trade imbalance-make the China exports and imports more equal in dollar value.  And he want the tariffs (taxes imposed by both countries on incoming goods) equalized as well.

After years of trade agreements that bound the countries of the world more closely and erased restrictions on trade, a populist backlash has grown against globalization. This was evident in Trump’s 2016 election and the British vote that year to leave the European Union.  You know, MAGA.

Critics note that big corporations in rich countries exploited rules to move factories to China, then shipped these goods back to their wealthy home countries while paying low tariffs. Since China joined the WTO in 2001, the United States has “lost” nearly 3 million factory jobs, though many economists believe a significant percentage of that loss is not just to trade but to artificial intelligence(robots) that replaces human workers.

President Trump blames what he calls their abusive trade policies for America’s persistent trade deficits — $566 billion last year. Most economists, by contrast, say the deficit simply reflects the reality that the United States spends more than it saves.

In 1972 the US was very divided over Nixon’s visit to China.  “Why should America even step on communist soil?” was a constant retort.  Just shy of two years later Richard Milhous Nixon was impeached for all together unrelated reasons.

In 2019 the US is very divided over the imposition of these tariffs on China as well as the many other nations that the Donald John Trump team has renegotiated trade deals with.  “Why mess with what has been working?” is the constant retort.

In fact in 2019 the US is very divided over everything.  Two years from now a new congress and either a new president or President Trump are sworn in to office.  If it’s a new congress that takes control of the Senate and President Trump is reelected might he be impeached for all together unrelated reasons?

If you are old enough you can still hear the tone and see President Nixon as he assured America, “I am not a crook!”

What fate lies ahead for President Trump?  And what will he say when he exits the American political stage whether forced out, elected out, or has served the maximum eight years allowed by our Constitution?  Our guess is that it will be strongly worded regardless of the pulpit, the audience, and the reason.

Meanwhile, the cost of your “made in China” items are about to go up it seems because Trump thinks China is a crook.

 

 

Teófilo-There Was Only One.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Cuba.  What do we know about it?  Well, for one, great “stuff” comes from there.  Cuban sandwiches and awesome cigars are but two examples.  Famous people have too.  The high profile list is too long to list actually.  There are many musicians (Pitbull, Gloria Esteban, Xavier Cugat), loads of actors(Andy Garcia, Desi Arnaz, Jr.), and countless baseball players (Aroldis Chapman, Reynaldo Ordóñez, Yasiel Puig, Jose Canseco) who have left the island to achieve fame and fortune.

But one who chose to stay(or was told to stay) may have become the most famous of all.  Does the name Teófilo Stevenson ring a bell?  Rest assured that when the bell rung Stevenson rung a few bells himself.

Teófilo Stevenson Lawrence was born in 1952 and passed away in 2012 at the age of 60.   He was a Cuban amateur boxer and engineer.  Stevenson is one of only three boxers to win three Olympic gold medals.  Impressive.

The British Broadcasting Corporation(BBC) once called Stevenson “Cuba’s greatest boxer, and its most famous figure after Fidel Castro.”

It began when his father boxed a bit and Stevenson followed in his footsteps sparring more accomplished fighters when he was but nine. Cuba was all but controlled then by the Soviet Union.  In the state controlled boxing system he quickly rose through the junior and then senior ranks.  In 1970 he turned 18 and was considered Cuba’s best heavyweight.  He weighed in at 225 lbs and stood 6 feet and 5 inches (or 196 centimeters if you prefer).

Stevenson was little known outside of a few on the Moscow controlled island.  That all changed in a flurry and a hurry in 1972 at the Munich Olympics.  Duane Bobick, the USA heavyweight, was fully expected to take home the gold medal continuing the US dominance of that division.  Smokin’ Joe Frazier won gold in 1964, and George Foreman grilled all competitors to do the same in 1968.

Bobick did not get out of the quarterfinals.  Stevenson knocked him down three times in the third and final round. His ferocious display made the boxing world pause and take notice.  In the finals German Peter Hussing, the Munich crowd’s favorite child, got knocked out by the Cuban machine in the second round.  Gold was his and one of several that the Cubans brought back to their island that Olympics.

The 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal was Stevenson’s second gold medal and made him a national hero in Cuba.  At this point the natural next step was to accept $5 million from promoters to debut as a pro vs. one Muhammad Ali.  This dream fight had the promoters salivating.  Communist Cuba vs. Free America.  Challenger v. Champ.  The Bay of Pigs was still quite fresh in minds of many millions.

Stevenson, shockingly, passed.  Or, did Fidel Castro help him to make up his mind to pass?  Professional boxing was banned in Cuba in 1962.  Fidel Castro wanted, according to the socialist phraseology, to fight against the exploitation of man by man. “What is five million compared to the love of eight million Cubans,” Stevenson famously wondered.

The 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow was his third consecutive gold medal coronation ball.  That feat is unprecedented to this day in the heavyweight class.  America boycotted Moscow.

In 1984 the Soviet Union counterpunched, boycotting the Summer Games in Los Angeles.  Cuba followed the Soviet lead and stayed home also.  Stevenson was ready for a fourth gold, but a Cold War got in the way of the war he would wage between the ropes.  He retired from boxing after the 1988 Olympics, which Cuba boycotted yet again.

Below are the final Olympic results of Cuban heavyweight boxer Teofilo Stevenson:

Munich 1972

Montreal 1976

  • Round of 32: bye
  • Round of 16: Defeated Mamadou Drame (Senegal) KO 2
  • Quarterfinal: Defeated Pekka Ruokola (Finland) KO 1
  • Semifinal: Defeated John Tate (United States) KO 1
  • Final: Defeated Mircea Şimon (Romania) TKO 3 (won gold medal)

Moscow 1980

His body of work (the link is worth your time) shows that he won 12 and lost zero Olympic matches.  Eight of the 12 ended in knockouts.  He won three Olympic golds, three World Championships, three World Amateur Championships, and two Pan American Games.   Complete and accurate records beyond that are difficult to discern for obvious reasons.  It is believed that this human machine fought 302 times all as an amateur.

Teófilo Stevenson Lawrence’s story is about what could have been.  But, it’s also a story about what it was.  And, it was very impressive.

 

 

Chad, Ima, and the Florida Swamp.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Do you remember Chad?  They say that everyone is famous for 15 minutes.  Chad was that and then some.  Hanging around for days, Chad was no dummy either.  He chose warm south Florida in mid November just eleven months after we celebrated the year 2000 and the 21st century replacing 1999 and the 20th century.  So just who was he?  Or better yet, what was he?

A “chad” is the fragment or fragments of paper left over when you punch a hole in a card.

In the 2000 United States presidential election, many Florida voters used Votomatic-style punched card ballots where incompletely punched holes resulted in partially punched chads: either a “hanging chad”, where one or more corners were still attached, or a “fat chad” or “pregnant chad”, where all corners were still attached, but an indentation appears to have been made. These votes were not counted by the tabulating machines. The aftermath of the controversy caused the rapid discontinuance of punch card ballots in the United States.

And what an aftermath it was.

On election night, no clear winner emerged. Print and broadcast media cited often contradictory exit-polling numbers, and the races in Oregon and New Mexico would remain too close to call for several days. Ultimately, the contest focused on the great state of Florida. Networks initially projected Gore the winner in Florida, but later they declared in favor of Bush. Gore called Bush to concede the election, but in the early hours of the following morning it became apparent that the Florida race was much closer than Gore’s staff thought.  Fewer than 600 votes separated the candidates, and that margin appeared to be narrowing.  About 3:00 AM Gore called a stunned Bush to retract his concession.

The aforementioned Bush would be one George W. Bush, then governor of Texas, and son of former President George Herbert Walker Bush.  Papa Bush was prez no. 41. The aforementioned Gore would be one Al Gore, then VP to impeached, but not removed, two term President William Jefferson Clinton. Clinton was prez no. 42. The winner of this undecided race would be prez no. 43.

That Gore won the popular vote wasn’t contested.  The final electoral college vote count, however, was left hanging by hanging chads.  The race in Florida was so tight that a miniscule difference of 537 votes sent the nation into a tizzy.  And, it sent Florida into a mandatory recount per state voting law.  As it stood prior to any recount, the red Republican Bush states amassed 271 electoral college votes to 266 for the blue Democrat Gore states.

Democrats embraced the recount.  But the Florida Secretary of State declared Bush the winner in mid recount.  Lawsuits, rulings, appeals, and reversals kept the finality of the outcome at bay for five weeks.  A few counties that still voted by using punch cards began their recount at the outset of the legal back and forth.  Was it a vote or was it the dreaded pregnant chad?

In the end the process(mess) reached the US Supreme Court.  By a five to four margin the highest court of all ruled that no timely resolution could be reached other than the original one.  This effectively made George Bush no. 43.  Chad’s fifteen minutes were up.

Indeed Chad’s fifteen minutes were up.  But meet Chad’s cousin, Ima Contest.  She surfaced last week for her fifteen minutes of fame.  She showed up in, of all places, warm south Florida in mid November.  Give that family three things-they know just where, when, and how to make an entrance onto the political main stage.

Incumbent Democrat Senator Bill Nelson and former Governor Republican Rick Scott engaged in an expensive and hotly contested mid-term race to represent Florida in the Senate.  The results are inside of 0.50% points difference.  It’s deja vu mandatory recount time.

Oh, and meanwhile in the governor’s race, unofficial results show Republican former Rep. Ron DeSantis leading Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum by 0.41 percentage points.  Gillum, identically to Gore(the inventor of the internet) called DeSantis and conceded.  But as Lee Corso (Floridian himself)has said a few times, “not so fast my friend.”  Then Gillum, identically to Gore (the world’s most respected authority on climate change) retracted his concession.  He wants to monitor the mandatory recount too.

Ima contests the two elections because, of all things, not all of the votes supposedly have been counted when they were supposed to be by law.  These include 266 absentee ballots that arrived Sunday at the Miami-Dade election office.  Sunday was a full five days after the law mandates all votes be counted by 7 pm on the night of the election.  But, laws be damned apparently as the incumbent Senator Nelson contends that not counting these votes will disenfranchise(remember when you had thankfully never heard of that word before?)  voters and has filed a suit accordingly.

Some recently displaced hurricane evacuees voted by email.  The county commish in that area admits that this isn’t within approved voter guidelines. Will those votes be allowed?  Palm Beach and Miami have now failed to get the recount done in a timely manner as well.  Lawsuits, allegations, claims of voter fraud, and more lawsuits from both sides have further muddied the murky waters.

How about a request for removal from office?  Even former Governor Jeb Bush had a few words for that swamp near The Everglades.  “There is no question that Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes failed to comply with Florida law on multiple counts, undermining Floridians’ confidence in our electoral process,” former Governor Jeb Bush said. “Supervisor Snipes should be removed from her office following the recounts.”

Of the 4,687 US statewide general elections held between 2000 to 2015, 27 were followed by a recount, and only three resulted in a change of outcome from the original count.  So, the odds are slim to none that anything becomes of any of this other than lawyers making bank.

Yet, recount deadlines have been missed and missed again.   Apparently the educational system in a few counties in the great state of Florida isn’t too good.  Some folks can’t count, while others can’t tell time.

Eighteen years ago, after five weeks of back and forth, it all wound up in the US Supreme Court.  This time we stand at a week plus and counting.  This mess of a messed up process might end up in the highest court as well.  If it comes to that, shouldn’t newly appointed Judge Kavanaugh cast the deciding vote?   That would read like a movie script, and Oscars for all.

Chad and Ima and Florida are unfortunately forever linked and riding on this Groundhog Day, post-election merry-go-round.  And around it goes.

 

Why Did We Stop Now?

Posted on by thependulumswings staff
  • And, for some reason, all is now quiet on the “must take down offensive monuments front.”  So, now that many “offensive” Civil War memorials have been taken down in several of our “united” states ,we ponder, ‘is society any better because of it?’  Did the ones we took down make our country a better place?  Do all of the ones that remain up make our country a worse place?  Why did we put them up in the first place?  Why did we take some of them down?  Where is the outcry to take the rest down?

How many remain?  Ah, take a look.  The research done for that recent AL.com article shows 30 of the 50 United States still have one or more tributes, monuments, or statues depicting a Confederate memorial of some sort.  The list is led by Virginia where 242 still stand upright.  242!  In all there are approximately 1728 spread across the aforementioned 30 states.  1728!

The vast majority stand south of the famous Mason-Dixon line.  But not all of them do.  One or more adorn public land in Iowa, Maryland, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, and shocker of shockers, Washington D.C.   But, but, how can that be?  Seems like we agree to disagree?

Apparently, we couldn’t even agree in the mid 1700’s where Pennsylvania and Maryland began and ended.  It’s how we first came to know Mr. Mason and Mr. Dixon.  A World Atlas excerpt follows.

The Mason-Dixon Line became widely known as the symbolic divider between the Northern and Southern states during America’s Civil War; in short, it divided slave states from non-slave states.

However, the original Mason–Dixon Line was actually a demarcation (or border) line between Pennsylvania and Maryland, in an effort to settle an 80-year land dispute between the two colonies. It also included the western border of present-day Delaware, as it was then a part of the Pennsylvania colony.

The ongoing dispute between the Penn family of Pennsylvania, and the Calvert family of Maryland over the border between the two colonies finally erupted into war in 1730, one known as Cresap’s War. After years of conflict, England’s King George II negotiated a cease-fire in 1738.

Shortly thereafter, the Penns and Calverts commissioned two Englishman, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, to mark the official border, and solve their property dispute.

Mason (an astronomer) and Dixon (a surveyor) used celestial measurements to form an accurate 233-mile-long line (or boundary) between Pennsylvania and Maryland, and the 83 mile-long between Maryland and Delaware.  The project took nearly 5 years.

After we solved where Maryland ended and Pennsylvania began, the Mason-Dixon line was extended, as mentioned above, to mark the south (slave states) from the north(non slave states).  So, after the war and over time, well over 2000 memorials were erected to honor the bravery, leadership, or passion of those who fought (and/or died) for the Confederacy. Even more were erected nationwide to honor the Union side of the very deadly combat.  The Confederate ones were placed in at least 30 states. There were only 36 states ratified into our United States by the end of the war in 1865.

Can’t you imagine the dedication ceremonies back then?  They likely looked and sounded just like the ones we have now.  The Star Spangled Banner was played by the local high school band.  Politicians stood up and thanked all for coming.  They droned on about how important this moment was to memorialize those who came and died before us.  A prayer was said for those who perished for what they thought was a good cause.  People dutifully bowed their heads.  The statue was unveiled.  People clapped.  Then, everyone ate a ham sandwich and drank a cup of punch.  Work beckoned.

One hundred and fifty years later we decided that these monuments were actually a terrible reflection on our society even though 30 of 36 states erected them and celebrated them for what they were-symbols of what tore us apart and eventually made us stronger, one union, one United States of America.

And, what about those Union memorials.   There are many thousands and they adorn every corner of this country.  Should they be taken down?  They honor Americans who displayed the same passion, leadership and bravery.  They stood for what they believed to be the right thing.   They fought and killed many thousands of US citizens who opposed the abolition of slavery.  Slavery, mind you, was but one of a few other disagreements that never are mentioned nor discussed.  The Union memorials were erected and celebrated for what they are-symbols of what tore us apart and eventually made us stronger, one union, one United States of America.  Sound familiar?

U.S. women were granted the right to vote in 1919.  The right was ratified as the 19th Amendment to the Constitution in 1920.  Just four years prior, in 1915, the US House of Representatives voted against the right to vote.  Should any memorial for any US citizen or US government leader who opposed this cause be torn down?  Or, maybe this discrimination doesn’t rise to the tear down level?  There were even women back then who opposed having the right to vote!

In recent years incivility and unrest over jury verdicts or police actions has led to serious street violence and crime.  A few have reached a level of violence where citizens have thrown rocks, or worse shot at and killed law officers they feel break the law, not uphold it.  Should we have statues erected for the citizens cause?  Should we have statues erected for the police cause?  Both?  Probably neither.   But if we did, my guess is that in 150 years or less one side of the cause will have had their statues removed.  Times change.  Opinions change.

Heck, Mason and Dixon probably disagreed with one another.  Can’t we all just get along?  Obviously not.  Or, better yet, can’t we all realize that what tears us apart can make us stronger if we are willing to recognize it, debate it, and learn from it?

History cannot be changed.  History cannot be erased.  History can teach.  It’s time to learn.

 

 

 

 

Lefty and Shorty Take Dead Aim at the Gun Debate

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Way way back in 1964, or 5, or 6 I frequently made a Sunday PM trip to the Gulf Gas Station a couple of miles from our house.  I did not know it then, but it was on that road and back that my father (Boom Boom) began teaching his lessons of life to me.

Lefty and Shorty were the amiable service station attendants.  Well, that’s what they were called back then as every pump was full serve. Sunday’s were slow.  We had their full attention.   Dad interacted with them as they checked the oil, washed the windshield, pumped the gas, and took the money.  He tipped them as well.  They were the main characters in the first lesson I learned.  They were funny. They always had a back and forth to their banter.  And, they always had a kind word or three for me.

I’m gallantly attempting to write my first book.  Lefty and Shorty “star” in the first chapter.  What was the first lesson?  Sorry, you ‘ll have to wait for the book (my publicist, if I had one, would be SO proud).

If Lefty and Shorty were alive today their exchange based on recent events and subsequent headlines might go something like the below.

Lefty -All of these mass shootings need to stop.  The Pittsburgh synagogue is just the latest.  Shorty -How are you going to do that?  Lefty -Eliminate automatic weapons, like AK 47’s.  Shorty -AK 47’s aren’t automatic, they are semiautomatic.  And how would you eliminate them?  Lefty – Stop selling them. Shorty – The sale of them in the US has been illegal since 1986 legislation which attempted to put more teeth into the 1968 Gun Control Act.  Lefty -Then stop selling all assault type rifles.  Shorty -If you stopped selling ALL guns legally today there would be about 330 million in the US alone, or about one for every living American. Lefty -Then we should require background checks to be for an extended period of time before anyone can buy a gun.  Shorty – So if I buy a gun today I wait seven or more days, not four, to be cleared?  Lefty – Exactly.  Shorty – So if I buy it three days earlier than previously planned I can get it cleared the same time as I do today.  Lefty – Well then, since you know it all, what is the answer?  Shorty – Isn’t the problem that people just kill other people far too easily regardless of the weapon?  People kill with their hands, knives, blunt instruments, handguns, rifles, and semiautomatics.  Lefty -Go on.  Shorty -It’s like the war on drugs Lefty.  People only stop doing drugs when they want to stop.  Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.  Lefty – And?  Shorty -There are hundreds of millions of people who own guns, safely store guns, hunt, shoot at targets, and have them at the ready for safety reasons.  Lefty – Here goes the 2nd Amendment hide behind speech.  Shorty – It’s not a hide behind.  It’s an original amendment in the Bill of Rights.  Lefty – That was 250 years ago and was designed originally to provide protection from an overbearing or oppressive government.  Shorty -So because of the expressed original intent you don’t think the need is there anymore?  Lefty – No.  Shorty– Don’t you and your left leaning friends worry about President Trump and his “instability” as the head of the most powerful nation in the world?  Lefty – Yes.  Shorty – Then you should go buy a gun even if it takes seven days to clear, cannot be automatic, and does not have a buttstock. It’s your right you know.  Lefty-I’m going to fix a flat tire.

No News Is Good News

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

You may have noticed that the boomboomsroom.com staff hasn’t posted a news article in a week or so.  It’s because our news editor has been on vacation.   Not really, we don’t have a news editor.   It’s because the staff hasn’t really felt like posting one.

We wondered aloud this afternoon why.  Why no news?

Sure there’s been news.  There is plenty of it every day.  We think our aversion to news stories the last week or so is driven by what we see or hear, who we hear it from, and how we feel about it.  And, we feel like what we have been seeing and hearing has given us news fatigue.

We did some research today and discovered that Googling “news fatigue” is a dead-end.  There is no such thing apparently.  Or, maybe there is and no one trademarked the phrase just yet.  We looked on Dictionary.com too.  Again no such thing.  The site actually asked if we meant “nest egg.”

Tzatziki anyone?

Each year Dictionary. com adds new words/phrases that have been coined along the way.  Glamping is where glamorous meets camping.  Tzatziki is a greek yogurt sauce that is made with garlic and cucumbers.  A dumpster fire is a total loss, worthless, or bad outcome.  Well, dumpster fire is very close to what we were looking for.  But, why no news fatigue?

So the staff met this afternoon, tried some tzatziki,  and decided to help both sites as they clearly aren’t as “on trend” as ours is.  We decided that news fatigue is a noun that describes one’s feelings after watching any of CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox News, MSNBC, or CNN (which some call “fake news” on a rather regular basis).  Those feelings are hopelessness derived from the ridiculous one-sided approach to the same subject and incessantly droning on daylong about it. It’s furthered by the negative angle of that one-sided approach.

Lastly, it’s compounded by the stench emanating from Washington.  Congress members get low, low cost (you’re subsidizing greatly) haircuts and manicures.   We wonder if we could install free showers to?  Everyone in that swamp needs a soap and a rinse.

Hopelessness overtakes those afflicted with news fatigue.  So what is the cure?  We hope there is a better one for the long-term.  Meanwhile, what is the short-term remedy to ease the pain?  After little deliberation we think turning off the news channels until your fever subsides is a smart start.  After all, there are people who report the news and people who make the news.   We suggest that you make your own news, and make it positive in whatever you do.