georgefloyd

Peaceful

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

“Never underestimate the strength of an opponent.”  Clearly those are smart words of advice.  They come in handy in the boardroom, on the playground, at the office, onfield, in the gym, or in the court of public opinion.

Ask Hillary.  She found out the hard way about Donald Trump.  He outworked her.  She slept while he flew tirelessly to the Rust Belt again and again.  Dare we say that the result “shocked da world?”

It was an upset in more ways than one.  The Democratic Party and the DNC, its right arm, are master strategists.  One of their tried and true, bread and butter, plays is to constantly make the Republicans play defense.  It’s hard to score when you are always on defense.  Trump stole that page from their playbook and executed it masterfully.

Never again cried the Democrats.  They’ve been on offense the last three-plus years.  You know, racism, Russian Collusion, racism, Quid Pro Quo, racism, Impeachment, racism, and Coronavirus mismanagement come to mind.   America was just starting to get healthy.  And now, tragically George Floyd has fallen and look what has fallen into their laps.

We have to stand together for social justice.  We need to end racism.  It’s time for real change.  We doubt many disagree with any of that at all.  One cop should spend the rest of his life in jail it seems.  Three others should pack a toothbrush for a while too.

But, a funny thing happened over the weekend.  The party that turned “abortion” into “women’s wellness” went on the offense.  You watched America burn, get looted, get knocked unconscious, and get rocks thrown at it over the weekend.    CNN was comparing the “violent” protests a week ago (that violated social distancing and were sans masks) aimed at governors and asked to end the lockdown to go back to work to the “peaceful” ones that spread across America mourning the loss of George Floyd.

The playbook said to say “peaceful.”  And CNN did.  MSNBC did as well.  Half of America laughed at the mischaracterization and cried watching flat-screen TVs being stolen live on their flat-screen TVs.

When will Pelosi and Schumer and company come out and denounce the “peaceful” violent protests and the thugs that continue to commit breaking and entering, theft, assault and battery, and attempted murder crimes?

They showed up yesterday.  But, surprise, they caught the pass from the media and ran further down the field.  In a joint statement Pelosi and Schumer stated, “At this challenging time, our nation needs real leadership. The President’s continued fanning of the flames of discord, bigotry and violence is cowardly, weak, and dangerous.”  Jim Acosta(CNN) asked Trump if this is still a democracy.

And so did Hollywood.   Samual Jackson, “Did we just get Martial Lawed??! So, he just Declared War on The Public??!! It’s not 1807 this is not Rebellion!!”  Ice Cube, “Will Trump be the first President to nuke a U.S. city? Stay tuned.”  Stephen King, “Trump is politicizing the protests. ANTIFA? Give me a break. Those look like apolitical hooligans and smash-and-grab artists to me.”  He does write great fiction.

See how easy that was?  What you’re seeing on TV are peaceful protests.  Don’t worry about what you think you see, listen to what is being said.

Last night a rioter in Vegas peacefully shot a cop in the back of the head.  He’s in critical condition.  In St. Louis four policemen were shot peacefully.

Violence is the new peaceful.  Tranquil and calm are soon to follow.   Voila!

 

One Day Alice, One Day.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The set was a single bedroom apartment house in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York City in the ’60s.  It was 328 Chauncery St. to be exact.  The Kramden’s and the Norton’s lived there.

Outside, in the real world 1960’s, there were marches, demonstrations, protests, and riots for civil rights for minorities across the nation.  In space, America flew and eventually landed on the moon.

On the set, and more than once, Ralph had had it with Alice.  “You’re a riot Alice,  You’re a regular riot.  Hope they like those jokes on the moon, ’cause that’s where you’re goin.'”

This past Saturday America launched two astronauts into space with some fanfare.  This past Saturday “regular” riots broke out across the nation for civil justice and the like.

It’s been 50 plus years and nothing has really changed, has it?  We want to go back to the moon all the while the nation’s (pick from any or all of the following) “oppressed,” “underserved,” “prejudiced against,” “minority,” or “African Americans” are yelling that they are being targeted and/or left behind.

The George Floyd killing is another terrible reminder of how far we think we have come and how far so many think we have to go.  We wonder if both groups are right on some level.  But does the looting, the burning, and the violence from coast to coast lose the real message in the tear gas?

Friday night two looters tried desperately to balance five flat-screen TVs on a Target Store pull cart. They must share an apartment bigger than the Kramden’s had in Bensonhurst.   Saturday night a woman helped herself to an entire cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory in Seattle.  She didn’t even bother to put it in a to-go box.  Last evening in Austin, thugs (what else do you want to call them?) set fire to a homeless man’s possessions right before his eyes. Once lit, they threw his mattress in just to stoke the flames.

Speaking of stoking the flames, the Minneapolis mayor threw gasoline on the situation calling what he saw on the video “a murder” and suggesting that “the cop should be arrested right now.”  Does anyone disagree?  No.  But if ever a case needed to be sure that “t’s” were crossed and “I’s” were dotted, it’s this one.  No mistakes in the procedure to secure an arrest warrant could be made.  If the case was ever thrown out on a technicality, lookout.

But he jumped the gun, and it swung the door wide open to take to the streets.  He told the cops to stand down.  And, when he pulled the cops from the Third District Station, that was subsequently burned down, he effectively gave the keys to the city to the inflamed.  The subsequent arrest of the rogue cop is lost as an afterthought now.

The very noble cry of ending unjust acts of violence on the innocent was drowned out by people committing unjust acts of violence on the innocent.  Ninety-nine point nine percent of America watched.  It’s the 0.1% that should be tossed in jail.

The wash, rinse, and repeat reminds us of “gun control.”  Somebody shoots and kills way too many people in a school, church, or club.  “We need gun control reform in America!”  “No, we don’t.”  After a week, the noise dies down, and we go back to what we were doing.

If America is that bad to live in, maybe some who feel that way should leave?  We aren’t suggesting it.  We wonder why they don’t.  People from many walks of life walk to our border to get in, not out.   If you want to stay, burning it down isn’t the answer any more than putting your knee on someone’s throat is.

Will this time be any different?  We can hope, but that won’t do much.  Before you know it another 50 years will have passed by.

“One day Alice, one day.”

The Corner of Government Rd. and Individualism Ave.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The “too big” government overreach is at it again.  It’s mad because a “too big” social media platform named Twitter is at it again.

When you attempt to censure President Trump, you’ve poked the proverbial bear.  Twitter made the mistake of “fact-checking” him one too many times coming out of this weekend.   “Fact-checking” is a nice word for censure.  Twitter’s version of what the facts are seems to be more of an opinion than grounded in fact.  It also seems like it chooses who to “fact check” and who not to.

“Republicans feel that Social Media Platforms totally silence conservatives voices,” Trump tweeted. “We will strongly regulate, or close them down before we can ever allow this to happen. We saw what they attempted to do, and failed, in 2016. We can’t let a more sophisticated version of that happen again.”

So with that, a spat has turned into an all-out trending Twitter war on the very platform most in question.

Twitter is a public company.  Like it or not it should be able to choose what it sells, and to whom, however it chooses. Don’t you like it?  Start your own platform after you quit tweeting.

But, alas, our world has evolved into a virtual mess.  And Twitter, Facebook, Snap, and a few others (Pinterest anyone?) are collectively the virtual mess.  “Freedom of speech,” the right yells.  So the FCC will attempt to censure Twitter who is attempting to censure people whose opinions they disagree with.  Does Twitter get to have its own freedom of speech?

We’re at the corner of Government Rd. and Individualism Ave. again.  We’ve actually been stuck in this traffic jam for a while.  We stopped driving for about two months so we temporarily forgot our whereabouts.  Our government overreached and told us to go home.  It was for our own good they said.

The Dallas city government arrested a hair salon owner.  The NOLA mayor signed an executive order banning the sale of firearms during the stay at home order.  The NY mayor said that if you go in the water last weekend “we’ll pull you out.”  The governor of Michigan said that the longer the protests continue, the longer the lockdown will be enforced.   In other words folks, the beatings will continue until the morale improves.

In Minnesota, the government went beyond beating its citizens, or at least one citizen.  The available video of the George Floyd apprehension looks like a few government employees went way too far.  One, in particular, might have(likely) committed a homicide. Social media, the same platforms under scrutiny, quickly organized the people.  Protests formed in Minnie and LA.  Meet on the corner of Government and Individualism it screamed.  And, rightfully so we add.

The problem in Minnie is that a few of the assembled (your right under the Bill of Rights) decided to loot. “Looting” is a nice word for stealing.  It’s reserved for stealing while under the influence of civil unrest we guess.   It’s like what “gaffe” is to “senility.”  It’s reserved for incoherent thought in an election year we guess.

The problem in LA is that they decided to get on the 101 Freeway.  No stores are on the freeway.   Maybe the government that overreaches that gave them their stimulus money as well as unemployment money, as well as small business payroll money kept them from wanting or needing to loot.  Still, it’s but a few blocks from the crossroads of Government and Individualism.

Times were so much simpler when all we had was social media Russian interference in our election, a little quid pro quo or no, and to impeach or not to impeach.

Maybe when Biden stops hiding and Trump stops tweeting we can have a civilized debate about all of this.  We kid.

We wonder if we’ll need to do it from a social distance.  We don’t wonder if social media will try to have a say.