Politics

Swim Fast

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Here at the world headquarters of BBR.com is a rather attractive 175-gallon fish tank.  Mature fish of all shapes and colors are plentiful.  And, now we have the tiniest of babies.

It’s so small you can see straight through it.  Peril awaits behind every rock and plant.  So far so good for the young un.  You watch in wonder with each passing day as the odds are quite slim.

The odds for the average American human baby born in 2022 aren’t as slim, but you have to wonder if the big fish are out to get them as well.

The first obstacle is, of course, being born at all.  In 2019, the most recent year that we have a semi-accurate count, nearly 1 million abortions were performed in the U.S.   Apparently we count abortions as expeditiously as we count votes in Pennsylvania.

And, now we have a baby formula shortage.  President Biden, responding to questions yesterday about how quickly the administration acted, claimed: “I don’t think anybody anticipated the impact of one facility — of the Abbott facility.”

Pressed by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on the comments from manufacturers that they knew immediately what the impact would be, Biden responded: “They did, but I didn’t.”  Apparently we react to formula shortages as quickly as we do oil and gas shortages.

When the infants reach school age at least they can begin to learn which gender they are, aren’t, might be, or want to be one day when they grow up.  Our public school system sees to it.

That public school system, which you pay for, does not allow you to choose which school your children attend, however.  Apparently pro-choice and school choice have little in common in these 50 United States.

At least we took the worthless masks off of the little ones(except NY which knows better than the rest) late this spring semester.

We teach them science.  We follow the science.

And, we have a better science-based solution right around the corner.  News broke this AM that both Pfizer and Moderna have applied for final approval of their three and two-shot vaccine series for children aged 6 months to five years.  Science tells us that they aren’t actually vaccines, but we digress.

How timely?  How worthless you ask?  It’s estimated that 0.001 percent of children under 12 have any serious symptoms from the dreaded Covid-19.  That’s 1 in 100,000 if you do the math of the science.

Roaring ahead to middle and high school we have a safety problem that no one wants to address with any old school logic.  We have gun-free zones where only criminals have guns.  And, we have armed police officers who want no part of criminals with guns.  Uvalde wasn’t the first time for the men and women in the blue.

Well, at least we can take comfort that if the very young adults make it all of the way to and through college that they can emerge from the other side debt-free and ready to contribute to society.

How’s that you ask?  Prez Biden, “I am not considering $50,000 debt reduction, but I am in the process of taking a hard look at whether or not there will be additional debt forgiveness.”

That’ll usher the new graduates into a world of even higher inflation.  Biden’s plan to cancel student loan debt could lead to higher inflation and perceived inequality, several experts warned.

Inflation?  It’s likely transitory.

Inequality?  Jeez.  We’ve done so much good there, haven’t we?  Haven’t we?

If you paid off your loans you get nothing back except a pat on the back.  If you didn’t go to college but learned a valuable trade, you get to pay off the debt of those who did but haven’t paid it back.

If you haven’t paid a silver dime back, or are delinquent, you get a free pass.  That’ll teach them responsibility, won’t it?

That little fish has a lot of swimming to do.

At least fish swim in schools that aren’t controlled by the government.

Not yet, anyway.

 

The Public Sentiment Pendulum

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

For the public sentiment pendulum to ever so slightly move in a direction opposite of its current one it takes only one net change of opinion. This move is barely discernable to the eye much less the national polls.

For the public sentiment pendulum to reverse course and begin an accelerating descent for the opposite side of the bottom/center “it takes a village” as Crooked Hillary used to say.

This course reverse is always aided by influencers.  They’re the ones that millions listen to and follow.

Ninety-five percent of our population are followers.  They want to be led.

Almost daily more coals are being dumped into the steam engine.  One big one was Elon Musk when he started speaking his mind and decided to buy Twitter so others can freely as well.   Make no mistake about it, the left inside and outside of the company has roared its collective concern.

It’s two for one.  Elon is an influencer.   Twitter and its shaping algorithms, bots, and suppression of expression are another.

But looky here, last week Netflix told its employees matter of factly that they had a choice.  They could work on the content that they don’t approve of, or they could leave the nest.

And, of all people, a now buffed Jeffery Bezos started pulling a bit right. In a tweet, Bezos accused Biden of ‘misdirection’ in response to the President saying inflation could be tamed by making wealthy firms ‘pay their fair share.’  “Raising corp taxes is fine to discuss. Taming inflation is critical to discuss. Mushing them together is just misdirection.”

Like Twitter and Netflix employees, the White House full of Biden handlers didn’t like the pushback from a man who they thought was bought and paid for.

“It doesn’t require a huge leap to figure out why one of the wealthiest individuals on Earth opposes an economic agenda for the middle class that cuts some of the biggest costs families face, fights inflation for the long haul, and adds to the historic deficit reduction the President is achieving by asking the richest taxpayers and corporations to pay their fair share,” deputy WH press secretary Andrew Bates said.  That’s a WhataSize bite of a nothing burger.

When your presidential approval rating is at a first term low of either 33% or 39% depending on which of the latest two polls you prefer, you see the pendulum coming right down the track at you.

Other presidents’ ratings have sagged early on including young Bush, Obama, and Trump.  What to do?  Fight back.  Regain the nation’s confidence.  Call it the war with words.

Roe v Wade is a firestarter.  But PR agencies are strongly advising major companies to go quietly into the night on this.  They saw the Disney melt.

And, now unfortunately so is the Buffalo mass shooting.  As with all mass murders, this one is uncalled for and terrible.

But, Biden sees light where others see darkness.  And, he’ll tell you so today from Buffalo.  He’ll wax on about the progress made against racism during his 40 years of public service(as if he had something to do with it), but tell you how far we still need to travel.  He didn’t travel to Waukesha, but we digress.  He’ll castigate Congress, demanding a call to arms to call some arms too dangerous to be sold anymore in the US.

Then, he’ll board Air Force One and be back at the big house in time for dinner and Matlock reruns.

The nearing midterms will be the ultimate judge of where the sentiment pendulum is.  But, for Biden and the left that pulls his strings, if they want a last two-year rerun of the first two years, they have a lot of ground to make up.

And, dangerous big guns like Musk and Bezos are firing in the wrong direction.

 

A Leak Like No Other

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

In 1973 the Supreme Court of the United States ruled on the case of Roe v Wade.  The majority opinion of the court made abortion legal nationwide.

Emotions about abortion ran high.  It was and is a nasty word for many.  So abortion was rebranded as pro-choice.  Pro-choice morphed into woman’s health.  Woman’s health was then repackaged as woman’s wellness.  It’s harder to debate woman’s wellness.

Eventually, the government was so concerned about women’s wellness that Planned Parenthood (founded in 1916) became a partially federally funded abortion, and woman’s wellness clinic.

Since we’re changing what we call things, should that part of the organization be renamed Not Planned Not Parenthood?

Fifty years later, there is a public debate as to who actually is a woman at the same time that we put a woman, Justice Kentaji Brown Jackson on the Supreme Court.  Brown Jackson testified before Congress that she couldn’t define what a woman was either.  When pressed, she said, “I am not a biologist.”

So last night’s bombshell, the SCOTUS leak of the first draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito for the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization., has vaulted the issue to the front page of American discourse all over again.  Alito writes, “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”

That there is a leak is a bombshell unto itself.  And, is a very dangerous threat to a very important pillar of US democracy-the Justice System’s impartial operational sanctity.  Start the investigation today.

So why the leak?  It’s pretty obvious, and serves a dual purpose, doesn’t it?

Can enough pressure be applied to those siding with Alito to swing votes the other way to maintain the status quo?  And can the current political landscape be reshaped with this polarizing issue to the extent that the party in power can maintain that power by inciting and galvanizing its base?

Inevitably, the leak will spur Democrats to push for the passage of a bill to codify Roe.  To do so they would need to bust the filibuster rule or lower the threshold to end a filibuster from 60 yes votes to 51. That means all attention will immediately turn to, you guessed it, Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.

The midterm vote is on 11/8/22, or six months and five days from today.

If you’re the party from the left would you like to run on inflation, food shortages, Ukraine, Afghanistan, the southern border, crime, Biden’s poll numbers, and Kamala’s incompetence? Or, would you like to run away from all of that?

Or, would you prefer to watch “mostly peaceful protests” in this coming summer of love to combat that nasty “war on women?” You could then bank on that being the galvanizer to get the vote out and turned in your favor.

Is it a coincidence that Kamala Harris is the featured speaker tonight at the 30th Annual We Are EMILY National Conference and Gala, a pro-choice event?  Is it a coincidence that President Biden is scheduled to deliver his thoughts from the White House today on Roe V. Wade?

Or, is all of this well planned by the party that plans well?

One thing is for sure, the Supreme Court has reunited the nation on the question of which gender gets pregnant and gives birth.

Or, chooses not to.

For now.

 

Basic Common Sense

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

A make-believe President Andrew Sheppard (actor Michael Douglas) interrupted a press conference in the movie An American President filmed in 1995 and said, “You cannot address crime prevention without getting rid of assault weapons and handguns. I consider them a threat to national security, and I will go door to door if I have to, but I’m gonna convince Americans that I’m right, and I’m gonna get the guns.”

“Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47,” shrieked Beto O’Rourke to roaring applause from a crowd at Texas Southern University during a Democratic Debate for a want-to-be President in 2015. “We’re not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans anymore.”

Yesterday, our real president, though some would argue in title only, Joe Biden told us that he wants to rein in the use of untraceable firearms known as ghost guns that turn up frequently at crime scenes.  This attempt targets privately made firearms that can be assembled from purchased do-it-yourself kits.  The weapons lack serial numbers, which makes it difficult to trace the owner.

Commercial manufacturers of the kits will have to be licensed and must add serial numbers on the kits’ frame or receiver.  Commercial sellers of the kits will have to become licensed and will be required to run background checks on potential buyers.  It makes some sense as conventional retailers must do the same.  It just won’t stop anyone who wants a gun to find a way to get one.

“These guns are weapons of choice for many criminals,” Biden said in a Rose Garden ceremony attended by victims and families of gun violence. “We are going to do everything we can to deprive them of that choice and, when we find them, put them in jail for a long, long time.”  Sounds like we’re not as interested in defunding the police as we were pre election.

Biden called the not call to arms “basic common sense.”  Except, it’s not.  Or, at least it’s not enough.

Well, it makes as much sense as Twitter employees who worry that Elon Musk, now Twitter’s largest shareholder, may turn their free speech platform into a platform that actually allows free speech, but we digress.

All together now- guns don’t kill people.  People kill people.

Adding serial numbers to parts will make illegal gun owners take a bit longer to file down the additional numbers to make them untraceable.  Also, stolen guns are stolen guns regardless of who cleared a background check originally.

There are over 330 million guns in this country that we can count. It’s the second amendment right.  If you don’t make another one, or file down another serial number, that’s enough for every man, woman, and child, regardless of their choice of pronouns, to pack heat.

Illinois and New York have the strictest gun control laws in the nation.  Ask the residents of Chicago’s south side or the Bronx how much that helps.

Criminal behavior starts way before someone puts a gun in their hand.  Once Veep Kamala figures out the root cause of illegal immigration maybe she can turn her attention to the root cause of criminal behavior.

Until then we can continue paying lip service to the problem as we do with China, Russia, inflation, debt, and the border.

 

Fair Share

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

If it’s not one war, it’s another.

Last week there was the war on women as Republicans unmercifully (the Washington Post called it the most grueling questioning/testimony ever) grilled Ketanji Brown Jackson for SCOTUS.

Every week for the last five the war on Ukraine marches on.  Joe Biden had a plan to stop it though.   He said Putin should be removed from power.  But then the White House said he didn’t mean it.  And, yesterday he said that he didn’t say it at all.

Someone once said, “even the best-laid plans go to hell when exposed to reality.”

This brings us to the newest war, and to reality.  Yesterday, President Biden made a renewed push to galvanize congressional Democrats to overhaul the nation’s tax code and dramatically raise rates on corporations and ultra-wealthy Americans.

The president laid out the tax hikes as part of his $5.8 trillion budget blueprint for federal spending in fiscal 2023.   Under his proposal, taxes would rise by $2.5 trillion, marking the largest increase in history in dollar terms. What can we give away for “free” that we haven’t already?  The deficit would be $1.15 trillion with a “t.”

Remember, it was but two weeks ago when both Biden and Madame Speaker Pelosi told us, idiots, that government spending wasn’t adding to our inflation problems, rather it actually helped curb inflation.

In fact, the mere notion made the President sick.  “I’m sick of this stuff,” Biden said at a Democratic retreat in Philadelphia, gesturing with his hands to suggest he’d had it up to his neck. “The American people think the reason for inflation is the government spending more money. Simply not true.”

We are reducing the Trump deficits and returning our fiscal house to order,” Biden said at the White House on Monday. He said the budget “makes prudent investment and economic growth, a more equitable economy while making sure corporations and the very wealthy pay their fair share.”

There you go.  It’s all in one sentence.  It’s straight from the left playbook.  Blame Trump, toss in “equitable,” and close with “fair share.”

Everybody supports “fair share.”  It’s fair after all, how could you be against it?  It might matter who decides what is fair, that’s how.  What it really means is that someone’s coming for someone else’s wallet.

The taxes outlined on Monday include a minimum 20% tax on the incomes of U.S. households worth $100 million or more even if the government made you dip into unrealized capital gains.  That’s current worth, not earned in the fiscal year.  You could call that Robin Hood.

That would raise taxes (aka government revenue-a terrible phrase if ever there was one) by about $360 billion over the next ten years. When you stack that up against increased spending it reminds us of the proverbial shooting a bb at a destroyer.

Biden also proposed raising the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21% as part of his budget request.  He’s banking on you not understanding a simple truism. If you raise corporate tax rates, corporations raise their prices to you.   And, that leads to higher inflation no matter how high Nancy Pelosi raises her painted-on eyebrows when spewing her revised version of Economics 101.

Under his envisioned budget, the nation’s deficit would shrink by more than $1 trillion over the next decade.  Or, stated differently the nation’s debt would increase from over $30 trillion to over $40 trillion.  Ouch.

And, no one in their right mind would think that anyone’s vision, and especially his, for the next decade could be clairvoyant.

Hopefully, the war on stupidity starts soon.

 

The King of Queens

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

BREAKING NEWS–

While you were likely sleeping overnight BBR has confirmed that LeBron James is leaving the NBA to join the WNBA!  Lebron tweeted, “my life and the WNBA ratings are forever changed for the better.  Going forward I want to be known as LeBronny’a James or Queen James.”

The King Says He’s Out!

In reality, this shouldn’t be a big deal, but it will be. Hell if you believe in equality, you should wonder why we even have two leagues.  Shouldn’t all genders just play together in one league?

As you know, Lia Thomas made history last Thursday as the first known transgender athlete to win a US college swimming championship when she took the title in the 500-meter freestyle in Atlanta.  Again, you have to wonder if equality really exists as we are striving for.  Why didn’t Lia simply swim in the men’s competition?

You know why.  It’s political theater at its finest.  And its finest was on display yesterday in the Senate confirmation hearings for Kentanji Brown Jackson as well.

The CNBC headline captures it well.  “Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson wraps tense two days of Senate questioning as confirmation path clears.”  The path was always clear as 50 Democrats were always going to vote for her and our esteemed VP Kamala Harris would make 51 assuming she knows how to push the correct button, but we digress.

But, first Judge Jackson faced that aforementioned tense moment.  Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) asked the DC Circuit Court of Appeals judge point-blank: “Can you provide a definition for the word ’woman’?

After a short back-and-forth, Jackson ultimately said: “No, I can’t.”  “You can’t?” Blackburn asked.  “Not in this context. I’m not a biologist,” Jackson said.

So it turns out that two X chromosomes have been deceiving us all along.

This is quite weird as Biden quite loudly promised a black woman as his first Supreme Court nominee if the opportunity presented itself.  How does he know?

Would the world have gone bonkers if Sen Blackburn followed up with “Can you provide a definition for the word ‘black’?

It makes you wonder why the left has been so vociferous in defending abortion, now known as women’s wellness, formerly known as a woman’s right to choose if they cannot define what makes a woman a woman.   Why call it women’s wellness?  How about just wellness?

And, all of this comes as we are celebrating Women’s History Month in March.  The first paragraph of Joe Biden’s Proclamation says so.  It reads, “Every March, Women’s History Month provides an opportunity to honor the generations of trailblazing women and girls who have built our Nation, shaped our progress, and strengthened our character as a people.”

So who are we celebrating if we cannot define who a woman is?  Did we mention political theater?

Fashion Is Strictly a Matter of Opinion.

That theater reached one of a few peaks back in 2017. The Women’s March was a worldwide protest on January 21, 2017, the day after the inauguration of Donald Trump as US president. It was prompted by several of Trump’s statements being considered by many as anti-women or otherwise offensive to women.

It’s pretty simple, almost cro magnon simple.  Trump bad, Biden good!  Gin up the base, let’s tear this place down.

It was originally billed as the Million Women’s March, but it drew 470,000.  Do you wonder if 530,000 bowed out when they learned of the suggested headdress?

Per the website, the goal of the annual march is to advocate legislation and policies regarding human rights and other issues, including women’s rights, immigration reform, healthcare reform, disability justice, reproductive rights, the environment, LGBTQ rights, racial equality, freedom of religion, workers’ rights and tolerance.

That sounds like a lot more than just women’s rights to us.

And that’s why we mention political theater for a final time, we promise.

 

 

The Sky Is Falling

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Know why Chicken Little crossed the road?

We’ll give you a hint.  It’s the same reason why John Kerry flew to Houston this week and spewed out all of those carbon emissions behind his plane.

It was to tell the uninformed that “the sky is falling, the sky is falling!”

President Biden’s climate czar, John Kerry, said that while the Ukraine refugee crisis is a “problem” amid Russia’s invasion, it pales in comparison to the wave of migration that will come if climate change is not addressed.

“We’re already seeing climate refugees around the world,” he said. “If you think migration has been a problem in Europe in the Syrian War or even from what we see now, wait until you see 100 million people for whom the entire food production capacity has collapsed.”  Climate refugees, who knew?  See the sky really is falling.

And as fictional character Carrie Bradshaw on Sex and the City would say, “and just like that” the great reset has revved up its political engines.

President Biden told reporters Tuesday that he “can’t do much” about rising gas prices and blamed the situation on Russia’s war against Ukraine.  But, what we can do is send out the machine that the Democratic Party is and preach climate change.

Wise politicians always say, “you never want to let a crisis go to waste.”  And, unlike the Republicans, the Democrats all come to roost behind a common cause like the wise owls that they are.

Never mind Afghanistan, worthless boosters, late covid tests, the stock market, Ukraine, China, and rampant overall inflation.   Change the national narrative.

Specifically, do you want to fix the gas price problem?  Go green.  Now.

With Kerry running point for Biden, Jen Psaki said yesterday about drilling permits, “what additional permits do they need?  I don’t think that they need an embroidered invitation to drill.”    Does that sound smug or dismissive?  There are 4600 permits to drill pending approval on Biden’s desk as of this AM.  Tick tock.

We could ask Saudi to help, but they won’t answer Biden’s calls.  How about Venezuela?  They’re as bad as they come to humankind but never mind that.  Why would we help increase domestic production a day after cutting off Russia?

Maybe if we all just don’t drive for two weeks straight we could flatten the gas demand curve.  Follow the science.  Like wearing worthless masks what a fracking mess this is.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was ripped by critics Monday after he argued that more Americans should purchase electric vehicles so that they “never have to worry about gas prices again.”

The former South Bend, IN mayor claimed on MSNBC’s “Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart” that families who own electric vehicles would see a “$12,500 discount” in transportation costs.

Conversely, AAA has estimated that owning a new, compact electric vehicle costs about $600 more per year than a gas-powered compact vehicle despite lower fuel and maintenance costs.  Never let facts get in the way of a good narrative.  And, this estimate is given with the full knowledge that electricity prices would likely climb significantly as demand soars.  Never let, well, never mind.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed giving state residents some relief in the form of a tax rebate, as rising energy costs have led to the Golden State having the highest gas prices in the nation.  How nice an idea is that?  At an average of $5.75 per gallon in Cali the good governor might give you back some of which you shouldn’t need to pay in the first place.

But, he too is against increasing that nasty domestic production.  “At a time when we’ve been heating and burning up, one thing we cannot do is repeat the mistakes of the past by embracing polluters, drilling even more oil, which only leads to even more extreme weather, more extreme drought, and more wildfire,” Newsom said.  Drilling leads to extreme weather.  Again, follow the science.

But the coup de grace was delivered by US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm yesterday in Houston with Czar Kerry at CERAweek (the global energy conference) yesterday.  She said, “we are on the cusp of the most important transition that human society has ever seen.  And, I hope that we’ll look back on 2022 as the year that the world took giant steps to improve energy security and tackle climate change.”

Fourteen months ago America was producing more gas than it consumed.  MORE!

We had all of the security we needed.  It was called energy independence.

But, that was so 2020.  And, now the script is flipped.  And the party in power can follow a script like no other.

 

 

 

 

Tourniquets No, Transfusions Yes.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

To us, 100 years seems like a long, long time ago.  To historians, it is just the wink of an eyelash.  So, the proper perspective is always key.  And we need plenty of the proper perspective right now.

Our decade of the 20s in the 21st century is off to quite the rocky start.  A century ago, it was quite the opposite.

Our 29th President, Warren G. Harding

The Roaring Twenties refers to the decade of the 1920s in Western society and Western culture. It was a period of economic prosperity with a distinctive cultural edge in the United States and Europe, particularly in major cities. In France they were having so much fun they called it the crazy years.   Jazz blossomed, the flapper redefined the modern look for British and American women, and art deco peaked. In the wake of the military mobilization of World War I and the Spanish flu, President Warren G. Harding “brought back normalcy” to the United States.

This period saw the large-scale development and use of automobiles, planes, telephones, films, radio, and electrical appliances in the lives of millions in the Western world.

Nations saw rapid industrial and economic growth, accelerated consumer demand, and introduced significant new trends in lifestyle and culture.  Cities rooted for their home teams and filled the new palatial cinemas and gigantic sports stadiums.

And, in many major democratic states, women won the right to vote.  Democratic states then v now were very different, but a win is a win.  We’re still arguing about the right to vote, but we digress.

Well, where are we now?  Where we are is in some stage of the process to bring back normalcy.  “What stage,” you ask?  “We have no clue,” we answer.

It sure doesn’t feel like we are in some stage of getting back to normal though, does it?  It does feel like we are in limbo.  Limbo as in, “how low can you go?”

We’re about to find out.

Spanish flu then, covid-19 now.

Economic prosperity returned back then.  We were on our way up prior to covid, but now we face supply chain issues and runaway inflation.

Our government in the last 14 months turned quickly, insistent upon meddling in capitalism.  What do you need?  Whatever it is, it’s free!  Except nothing is free, it just creates dependency (isn’t that the end game for some?) and debt.

And, there is the most important one.  There was WWI then, and hopefully not WWIII now.

Maybe this Warren G. Harding gentleman doesn’t get enough credit in our history books?  And, if Joe Biden wants any he better start looking out for America, not his fringe left.

Do you want solutions?  Yesterday our esteemed Transportation Secretary Peter Buttigieg had one.  He suggested that if America wanted a quick fix to higher gas prices they should go out and buy an electric vehicle.  Oh, yes he did say that.

Meanwhile, we are buying about 500k barrels of Russian oil per day while sending billions of dollars to Ukraine to fight the Russians.  It sounds like we haven’t yet hit the bottom of the barrel yet after all.

Real solutions are on the horizon, or even closer.  Start drilling.

This brings us to one word-leadership.  America needs leadership right now in the worst way before we get to the worst way.  But we don’t have it.

Biden, Harris, Pelosi, Buttigieg, Schumer, Rubio, Graham, McConnell(times 2), Swalwell, Romney, Cheney, Bernie, and The Squad all need to go.  There are others, plenty of others.

And, one named Donald Trump needs to not come back.  Make that two.  Her name is Hillary.

We need that new blood now, and we need a lot of it.

Midterms are exactly eight months away today.  That makes the 2024 election(s) 32 months out.  In some ways that seems like forever.

History teaches us that it’s way less than a wink.  It just doesn’t feel that way.

The pendulum always swings. Sometimes it just has to reach the bottom to get to the other side.

 

 

 

 

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-Random

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

If you’re waiting anxiously at your door for a block of ice delivery from Canada it might be a while.  But, if you’re waiting for your delivery of some tasty nuggets, we’ve got ten on your virtual doorstep below.

  1.  The contrast between the summer of 2020 discontent in America and the Canadian Freedom Convoy protest approaches polar opposites.  Up north it’s mostly peaceful while south of the frozen Canadian tundra it was said to be mostly peaceful.  Americans lit cities on fire.  Canadians are lighting wood in barrels on fire to stay warm.  America allowed the destruction and took little to no action against the instigators.  PM Trudeau has invoked the Emergency Act in an attempt to freeze banks accounts, take gas away, and tow trucks from the streets.
  2. Trudeau’s temper tantrum seems a bit harsh. But, it is two separate countries on one continent.  To each their own.  Still, no one remembers Antifa nor BLM having funds frozen in 2020.  But, you might remember certain politicians (Kamala Harris), corporations, and actors donating money to the causes or the rare need for bail money.  And, now a lot of that money has gone missing, but we digress.
  3. As Special Council Durham
    Durham Means Business It Seems

    continues his journey into purported spying, lying, and trumped-up Russian ties/allegations against Trump, the so-called mainstream media remains eerily quiet.  How the world of journalism has changed from by the book factual investigative reporting to cheerleading for one side or the other in the last 40 years is fascinating and terribly disappointing.  Deep Throat, if we knew who he or she was, would have a sore throat trying to get someone to listen to them.

  4. If there was even a hint that Trump spied on the Biden White House can you imagine the fervor?  Maybe this is a big nothing burger.  But indictments are coming in the dozens and soon.  Better to cover what turns out to be a non-story than to not cover a story you would think.
  5.  On 10/31/16, just seven days prior to the general election Democratic Nominee Hillary Clinton tweeted out, “Computer scientists have apparently uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Organization to a Russian-based bank.  This secret hotline may be the key to unlocking the mystery to Trump’s ties to Russia.”  Did she omit the part about her operation trumping up the charges and paying for the head fake?  We will see.
  6.  You can vote early (today) in Texas for their 3/1 primaries setting up the November elections.  The gubernatorial primary comes down to incumbent Greg Abbott getting 50% plus one vote to advance to meet Beto O’Rourke from the left in the general.  O’ Rourke has already announced that he wants no part of Biden in Texas to “help” him.
    Lost to Cruz and Biden. It’s Abbott for the Hat Trick.

    Yesterday he walked as far away from his 2019 attack on gun owners (we’re going to take away their AR15s and AK47s) when he said “I’m not interested in taking anything from anyone.”  Why the sudden change of heart deep in the Heart of Texas?  Polls.  He trails Abbott by about 58-42% in most polls.

  7.  Get ready to roll up your sleeve every year from now till death.  A high-ranking US FDA Officer on a hidden camera revealed the government’s future Covid policy.  “Joe Biden wants to innoculate as many as possible.”  “You’ll have to get an annual shot.”  The FDA is not going to not approve it.”
  8. Dr. Fauci couldn’t agree more.  He was on MSNBC last evening with Chris Hayes and said, “You may be done with COVID, but COVID is not done with the US, nor is it done with the world.”  He went on, “the protection with boosting is profound.”  This contradicts a Pfizer news release last Friday that showed their booster’s efficacy diminishes greatly after four months.  Maybe it’s three shots a year every year till death do us part.
  9. NBC is strutting its peacock feathers as viewership of its conventional broadcast and streaming of Super Bowl LVI totaled 112.3 million viewers.  That was up 13% from last year and nearly an all-time high.  If you thought Kapernick and his knee would break the NFL think again.  It’s a marketing and brand machine the world over.
  10.  Well, it is except in Los Angeles who hosted the party/game and had the hometown Rams playing and winning it.  LA didn’t make the top ten markets in viewership per Nielsen.  Cincinnati lost the game but won the Nielsen’s as it had the highest audience share in the country.  It was 80 plus degrees in LA and sunny.  Isn’t it always? There were better things to do.

You’ve been served.

A Rock Fight

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

In politics, 2024 is just around the corner.  But for aspiring, thought to be front-running politicians it’s light-years away.

After all, who thought an ACORN employee turned Illinois Congressman would walk in the room and crack the glass ceiling when Hillary Clinton was attempting to hammer it herself in 2008?

And, who thought a gritty NY businessman turned reality show star would walk in the room and crack eggs over the head of Jeb Bush in 2016?

And, finally, who thought a 77-year-old man four years removed from the lifelong political game could hide in his basement and garner the most votes ever cast in a presidential election?

If you type “politicians make” in the Google search bar in no time you get “make me sick,” “make strange bedfellows,” “make false promises,” and “make too much money” in short order.

Long Ago and Way Happier Times

So, while we agree on what they do, who in 2024 will turn our collective stomachs?  As of today, would you say it’s former President Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton?

Several corners on Las Vegas Boulevard do. So is the race to the bottom on?

Time will tell. But what good poker players know as a tell is the not too distant rumblings of the respective parties.

If people judged Donald Trump by what he accomplishes, not what he says or, most of all, how he says it, he would be a worthy candidate all over again.  But, too many people have had it with him and his ego, and that was prior to that January 6, 2021 dustup at the Capital Building now labeled as “Insurrection Day” by the left and their media shrills.

If he polls at 30% and the balance of the Republican field scatters the other 70% does that make him the front runner?  Yes.  But it also makes 70% of the likely Republican voters prefer someone else.

Hillary cannot help herself.  Every time she opens her yapper she proves it to the general public.  Also, she’s physically not up to the task.  She wasn’t well at the wire in 2016, how could she be in 2024?  She’s got more than just carry-on baggage.  Her email server has been on the fritz for years.

And, now she may have far bigger problems.  Special Counsel John Durham looked into Russia’s supposed ties to Trump.  And, in quite the plot twist he has tied Hillary’s campaign team to instigating, paying, and then spying on team Trump per his blockbuster report released Friday.

How bad is it?   The bombastic former President weighed in yesterday.  “​This is a scandal far greater in scope and magnitude than Watergate and those who were involved in and knew about this spying operation should be subject to criminal prosecution,” said Trump.  “In a stronger period of time in our country, this crime would have been punishable by death,” he said.

Death?  Maybe.  But, it is a good transitional word.  Maybe both of these candidates are dead to us as Tony Soprano might say.  Or, maybe they should be.

The only way the Democrats can get back in this race (and we know it is early) is if the Republicans let them back in.  And, if they nominate Trump it will be game on. They’ve taken getting their base riled up to a higher art form when they bellow about that Trump fellow.

For the Dems, Biden is 79 and doesn’t know if he’s President of the US or El Salvador.  There is no way he’s running again unless it’s to the nearest men’s room.  Hillary is 74 and has been shown the door one too many times.

Both parties can do better, can’t they?

Will they?  2024 in one sense is near, but perhaps there is still plenty of time for two fresh faces to appear.

America deserves better than a rock fight.