Tourniquets No, Transfusions Yes.

Posted on March 8, 2022March 8, 2022 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.

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.

The D.C. Boomerang

Posted on October 7, 2020October 7, 2020 by thependulumswings staff

Have you ever thrown a boomerang? Rumor has it that if you throw it just right it’ll come back to you.

Shortly after the 2016 presidential election it now looks like one may have been thrown so hard and far on Capitol Hill that it’s just now making its way back to its rightful owner.

You remember back then Donald Trump, labeled Putin’s puppet by a few Democrats, was accused of colluding with the Russians to tilt the election in his favor. And, quickly, right after Jeff Sessions recused himself as Attorney General, the Russia collusion investigation took flight.

On May 17, 2017, Robert Mueller was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as special counsel overseeing an investigation into allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and related matters. The “and related matters” language is like having a blank check. You can wander into a lot of file cabinets, subpoenas, and personal computing devices when you are investigating “related matters.”

And the investigation did wander as it wondered. It wandered for 22 months. We learned that “Crossfire Hurricane” was the code name for the FBI investigation into the Russian interference. We learned that Michael Cohen didn’t pay his taxes. He’s in jail now. We even learned about porn star Stormy Daniels. Her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, was famous for fifteen minutes, too. He’s in jail now as well. He faces numerous counts of fraud and extortion. That’s how far the investigation wandered as part of that “related matters” opportunity it was afforded.

House Judicial Committee leader Adam Schiff appeared on CNN, Meet the Depressed, and MSNBC roughly 201 times stating “we now have direct evidence linking Trump to the Russians.” CNN, Meet the Depressed, and MSNBC commentators then repeated roughly 2001 times “there is direct evidence linking Trump to the Russians.” It’s what all well-trained parrots do.

Only, there was no direct evidence. After a bevy of witnesses paraded before Shiff and his minions, Robert Mueller himself appeared and told them himself that there was no link. Well, he really said, “that is beyond my purview” roughly 20,001 times, but we digress. And, poof went the two-year waste of time and money balloon.

And with that, the Ukraine phone call took center stage.

So whatever happened to that pesky Russian collusion problem? It looks like the boomerang turned for home yesterday.

Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe on Tuesday declassified documents revealing that former CIA Director John Brennan had briefed former President Obama on Hillary Clinton’s plan to tie then-candidate Donald Trump to Russia — as “a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server.” Whoopsie do!

The “foreign policy adviser” who allegedly proposed “vilify[ing] Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by Russian security services “was Jake Sullivan, now a top Biden aide.” Hillary OK’d his proposal on July 26, 2016, just days before the FBI opened the probe. Whoopsie do do!

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jim Jordan (R-OH) tweeted Tuesday: “We now know that John Brennan and Hillary Clinton conjured up the phony Russian hoax with the Obama/Biden Administration to distract Americans from the Clinton email scandal. The witch hunt was worse than we ever thought!”

And with that, the boomerang is rapidly heading back to those who originally launched it perhaps.

A wise man opined years ago that if you want to know what one side is doing listen to what they are accusing the other side of doing and you’ll know. He was right.

It’s about power. It’s always about power. So, what becomes of all of this power grab sabotage? That answer likely depends on who assumes power in the White House and on Capitol Hill in January.

After all, not all boomerangs are made to return. Some are used for (witch) hunting.