impeachmentparty

We the People

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The original, unedited, wonderfully written Constitution begins  “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Now, nearly 250 years in, it has stood the test of time.  It’s what the nation’s forefathers hoped it would do.

It’s strongest part might be it’s first three words, “We the People.”  It’s very beginning suggests that a group met and collectively decided on a course.  That course took a brand new nation, now independent, from it’s birth to opportunities, freedom, safety, wealth, and health the likes of which have never been seen before on this earth.

Today, “We the People” are a very divided group.  Are we the most divided in our nation’s history?  Probably not.  And, despite the histrionics advanced, it’s probably not even close.  “We the People” were more divided before, during, and after the 1861-1865 Civil War.  And, the civil rights movement of the 1960’s was worse to significantly much worse than today.

Today’s “we” are three “we’s” and counting.  We love the disruption that Trump has brought to the status quo in Washington and when, where, and how the U.S. acts on the world stage.  Or, we are disrupters known as “never Trumpers” and we hate (yes hate) Trump.  A third, but growing we, embraces socialism, or even communism. Talk about disruption personified.

Don’t believe the socialism or communism part?  A published poll last evening on one of the major networks showed 27% of American millennials favored communism over capitalism.  These kids borrowed for college.  They owe a lot of money.  They believe that an entry level job isn’t a just reward for doing so.  They want a refund.  And they want it now.  The 1% crowd might be their ATM so they think.

We cannot even rejoice in the elimination of the top leader of ISIS, Abū Bakr al-Baghdadi.  Minutes went by and either the Democrats were offended for not being told prior, or Trump was acting like a bully about it on the bully pulpit, or the Washington Post was eulogizing the savage who ordered the killing of thousands as a austere religious scholar.

The never Trumpers, regardless of party affiliation, have embarked on a three year old campaign to unseat the man who ran the most unconventional campaign the country has ever seen to win the highest seat in all of the land.  That campaign won’t stop all the while Trump’s campaign for reelection is full steam ahead.   Hide in a basement, interview a self created whistleblower, scream “quid quo pro” enough times, and eventually impeach.  That’ll get some of the “We the People” on your team.

Meanwhile, surely it’s time to gas up Air Force One and rile up the base in a red state near you soon.  Stand in line, wear a red MAGA hat, and yell at the other side for 90 minutes.  That’ll make you feel better.  And, that’ll get some of the “We the People” on your team.

Meanwhile, Bernie and Elizabeth are promising those millennials the farm.  The farm might not have much left if Trump doesn’t solve the China trade wars, but we digress.  The farm might not have much left if Trump doesn’t fix that ole existential crisis of climate change, but we further digress.  The farm includes free healthcare, free tuition, tuition debt forgiveness, free flow of immigration, free healthcare for immigrants legal or otherwise.  Free, free, free.  That’ll get some of the “We the People” on your team.

The only problem is that makes for three teams.  It takes four teams for a good playoff.  How about Team Biden?  He’s the head coach of what’s left of the old Democratic Party.  He’s the head coach of what’s now right of the new Democratic Party.  He’s promising to, well, we’re not sure.  Ah yes, he’s promising to beat Trump, platform TBD.  Surely that’ll get some of the “We the People” on your team.

“In order to form a more perfect union” follows right after “We the People” in the Constitutions’ first sentence.  The problem is we don’t know who to follow right now in order to form a more perfect union.

Oh, and one more thing.  Nothing is free, not even freedom.  Nothing.

 

 

 

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-NCAA Football

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Flip the page on your calendar this AM.  October has arrived.  And, thankfully with it will come some Power Five NCAA in conference football games.  We’ve had far too few as there is an extra weekend built into the schedule. Week six is here.  We review week five with a Ten Piece Nuggets order to chew on below.

  1.  The new AP Top 25 is out.  Clemson’s near loss was Alabama’s gain.  Saturday the Tide rolled Ole Miss 59-31, and yesterday they rolled into the top spot in the latest poll.  Alabama has this coming weekend off before they roll into College Station next weekend.
  2.  It’s hard not to like Mack Brown directing his NC Tar Heel team to go for the win at the end of their 60 minute donnybrook with Clemson.  It’s hard to like the play that was called however.   Clemson escaped with a 21-20 win.  They haven’t been playing as well as some others early on.  Maybe this near loss and a drop to no. 2 will do them some good longer term this season.  They too are idle this weekend before Florida St comes calling next weekend.
  3.  Georgia was off Saturday and remained at #3.  Number four LSU was too.   However they dropped to #5 as the voters were impressed by THE Ohio State University taking all of the corn that they wanted back home from Nebraska.  They shucked the Cornhuskers 48-7.   You have to harvest before the first frost.  Nebraska’s Scott Frost has a long way to go to bring Lincoln back to relevance.
  4.  The rest of the top ten remained as it was except Notre Dame moved up one as Florida moved down one.  They are now ninth and tenth respectively.
  5.  Florida has a chance to erase that little drop and then some this weekend.   Lee Corso, his pencil complete with eraser, and the gang descend on The Swamp for ESPN’s College Gameday.  The Gators host Auburn in a #9 v. #7 showdown.   Both teams look very strong on defense.  Both teams are undefeated.  Something has to give.  It should be a rock ’em sock ’em afternoon in the heat and humidity.  Kickoff is set for a steamy 3:30 pm eastern.
  6.  There was a good bit of bouncing around in the lower half of the polls.  No one moved more than Arizona St. though.  A week removed from a disappointing home loss to Colorado, the Sun Devils went to Berkley and beat the Golden Bears.   Herm Edwards and crew entered the top 25 at #20 jumping from a previously voted counted #37 spot.  California was the last undefeated PAC 12 team.  The state of California signed into law a bill that allows NCAA players to be paid for using their image/likeness starting in 2023.  Maybe the PAC 12 will have a national contender again by then.
  7.  Virginia dropped from the unbeatens and slid five to #23 with their loss the the Fighting Irish.  The Texas A&M Aggies dropped to #25 even though they won.  The voters were underwhelmed by the year to date underwhelming Aggies as they held on late to beat a 23 point underhog (see what we did there?) by four.
  8. Who’s the second best team in the ACC?  Florida St.?  Miami?  Virginia?  How about Wake Forest?  The Demon Deacons are a very quiet 5-0.  They check in at #22.   The schedule stiffens from here.  But, for now they’ve beaten everyone in front of them to date including the pesky bunch of Carolinans from just up Tobacco Road.
  9. Say hello to SMU.  They are ranked for the first time since the football program received the death penalty for NCAA rules violations in 1987. The 5-0 Mustangs entered the poll at #24 after winning 48-21 at USF on Saturday. They’re off to the school’s best overall start since 1983, with three road wins under their belt including a then ranked TCU.  Under second-year coach Sonny Dykes, the Mustangs are playing their best ball since the Pony Express days of Eric Dickerson and Craig James.  Hey Cali, Texas was already paying it’s players way back then.
  10.  Some early lines are out.  That matchup of the week has Auburn a three point favorite in The Swamp over Florida.  Washington is a whopping 14 1/2 point road favorite over Stanford.  Texas travels east to West Virginia as an 11 point favorite.   The three home dogs and the points seems like a fun three team parlay.

The entire BBR staff is traveling to BR for an 11AM LSU v. Utah St. Saturday kickoff.  They will also be in that number to cover the Saints hosting the Buccaneers the next day.  The work never ends.

October is here.  Footballs are flying.

Six Questions.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

As we exit this week, thankfully, we leave you with a few(6) questions to ponder.  We’ll call this blend of politics, sports, and current events our Six Shooter for now. Perhaps this name is offensive.  Does Six Pack sound better?  Suggestions for a better name for this new feature are welcome.  But, make them good, or they will likely hit the round file.

We’ll keep it short as we, much like you, would prefer to put this week behinds us ASAP.  And, to the points to ponder we wander.

  1. In the age of media overkill, can we kill any future stories before they are printed or spoken about Antonio Brown?  The entire NFL is taking a pass on Antonio catching a pass for them.  Can the media pass?  Colin Kaepernick is holding on line two.
  2. Is Adam Schiff related to Pinocchio?   He has to be.  His ability to stare cameras in the face daily and lie right through his pearly whites has reached yet another level.  Jacob Chaffetz, the respected and recently retired Senator from Utah wrote a piece expressing his desire to see Shifty Schiff removed as House Intel Committee Chairman.  It’s from the right, and right here if you want a quick read.
  3.  The Packers are 3-1.  Their defense is better, much better, than in years gone by.  But, something doesn’t look right.  Aaron Rodgers, with last night’s game as another example, doesn’t look like Rodgers of old.  What’s wrong?  New OC?   He couldn’t get along with former HC Mike McCarthy either.  Or, as Rodgers told the world a few years back after a tough loss, “everyone needs to just chill.”
  4.  What’s more impressive, the way Joe Biden’s hair plugs have taken root, or how strong Nancy Pelosi’s Poly Grip held up this week after several press conferences?  Throw in Trump’s orange face tint and you have three very vain people at the center of the US political universe.
  5. Lamar Jackson, DeShaun Watson, and Patrick Mahomes are tomorrow’s (and some of today’s) NFL.  Ben Roethlisberger and Drew Brees are both injured and both may return to HOF form.  Rodgers and Rivers continue on.   But, is there any doubt, ANY doubt, that Tom Brady was yesterday’s, today’s, and likely tomorrow’s NFL?  Story lines about the NFL abound yearly.  You have to fill lots of Al Gore’s virtual world daily.  But, when the season gets long in the tooth, long in the tooth Tom seems to always be the story that matters.
  6. Thursday on CNN’s “OutFront,” 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) called on President Donald Trump to resign from the White House over the “whistleblower” complaint regarding Trump’s communications with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.  Can someone tell CNN, and then CNN could be kind enough to tell Beto, that someone’s opinion who is polling at less than 1% doesn’t really matter?  BBR is calling on Beto to resign.  Wait, he doesn’t have a job to resign from.

Tom Cruise (Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee) wanted answers from Jack Nicholson (Colonel Nathan Jessup) in A Few Good Men.  Nicholson told Cruise that “you can’t handle the truth.”  Truth be told this, once again, wasn’t America’s finest week.  Enjoy the weekend escape, and let the games begin.

Abby Takes Down Vegas, Year Two, Week Five

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Abby promised to make money rain last week.  Unfortunately the “bad beat” gods rained on her instead.  Two games v the spread were lost by 1/2 point in her regular picks.  Her hunch bet had a dog house, back door late cover by 1/2 point as well.  Oh well.   For the season Abby has won 9 of 20 picks.  Her bone collection is buried in some backyard mud at 16 of 38.  Hunch bets have won three, and lost but two.

Week five features games almost as underwhelming as week three.  Only one top 25 matchup is on the card.  It’s # 10 ND hosting #18 Virginia.  Abby isn’t yapping about the choices, but she isn’t napping just yet either.  It’s time for this doggie to give the readers a treat, and to the picks we go.

Clemson v North Carolina +27 —  The Mack Brown miracle has been put on pause.  Clemson has hit its stride.  It’s a good spot for a back door cover to get even with last week’s beats.  One bone.

Iowa St. v Baylor +2 1/2 —  Abby loves home dogs.  She especially loves it when she thinks that the wrong team is favored.  Three bones.

Minn v Purdue + 1 1/2 —   Did we mention that Abby loves home dogs?  Did we mention that she especially loves it when she thinks that the wrong team is favored?  One bone.

Kansas St v Oklahoma St. – 4 —  Kansas St. has played better in year one without Bill Snyder than expected so far.  Oklahoma St. is smarting from a loss in a valiant effort v. Texas last week.  Abby says the Cowboys cover late in a lower than expected total score.  Three bones.

Penn St -6 v Maryland —  Before Abby heads in for her nap, she wants everyone to know that she thinks America is sleeping on the Nittany Lions.  Expect Maryland to be fired up at home, but expect Penn St to wear them out late.  Two bones.

Does any PAC 12 team deserved to be favored by 10 points over any other, Oregon St. aside?  Washington is favored by 10 over visiting USC.  The line seems out of bounds.  Hunch bets are made on outliers.  She thinks that Vegas is screaming at you to take USC.  She’ll take the Huskies, a favorite dog of hers to begin with.

Abby is a day early this week for logistical reasons.  It’s better than a day late.  And, her picks aren’t a dollar short.

Woof!

 

Quiet On The Set!

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 through May 1693. More than 200 people were accused.  Nineteen were found guilty and executed by hanging.   The episode is one of Colonial America’s most notorious cases of mass hysteria. It has been used in political rhetoric and popular literature as a cautionary tale about the dangers of false accusations and lapses in due process.

My how we have progressed in the 326 years since 1693.  Or not.

Yesterday House Majority Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced after a meeting with Democratic House leaders that the House would begin an impeachment inquiry into the allegations that President Trump attempted to influence the 2020 presidential race by asking Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky to look into possible wrong doings by Joe Biden’s son Hunter in his business dealings with the country.

Last night it was reported that the whistleblower to the Intelligence Inspector General hadn’t actually heard the conversation, but was told of it.  But, surely where there is smoke there is fire.  The whistleblower retained an attorney who previously worked for Chuck Schuemer and none other than Hillary Clinton.  But, we digress.

Today the White House will release the complete unredacted transcripts of the call.  But, why wait for that?  Get the pitchforks out of the shed yesterday.

Remember, Joe Biden is on tape bragging about how he influenced Ukraine to fire the prosecutor that was looking into his son’s LLC’s Ukraine dealings.   This blatantly obvious transgression, much bigger than your average daily gaffe, makes us wonder.

Could two wrongs make a right for the far left?  Let’s play “what if.”  What if there is enough undertone to the tone of Trump’s call to give the mob more impetus to carry on the inquiry?  Or, what if there is not? Here is what happens regardless.

  1.  Congressional Democrats up for reelection in 2020 can either vote to impeach (if it even comes to that) if it helps them gain reelection, or vote against if it will not.   Remember, all politics inevitably are local.  Thirty-one Democrats are running in districts that Trump carried by 10 points or more in 2016.
  2.  At a minimum this continues the “we must oust the corrupt Trump” war that the House has run with for three years now.  We are just guessing, but this inquiry might just last up until, say, roughly the first week of November of 2020.  Fire up the lanterns and the base.
  3.  What if Biden gets tangled up in this mess?  Shouldn’t he have to release his meeting notes and phone calls to Ukraine when he was VP?  As stated above, he’s openly told assembled crowds that he has done exactly what Trump is now accused of.
  4.  If so, doesn’t this further weaken an already weakened Biden campaign?
  5.  If so, doesn’t this turn a crack into a wide open door for a Warren, or Sanders, or Harris, etc. to walk through for the nomination?
  6.  There aren’t enough House votes to impeach.  Even if there was, there certainly aren’t enough Senate votes to convict the President.
  7.  If so, then when it’s all said and done what’s the end game?  The answer of course is “politics.”  And political gain leads to power.  And power leads to control.

The trials of 1692-3 were started after people had been accused of the witchcraft, primarily by teenage girls such as Elizabeth Hubbard, 17, as well as some who were even younger.   Many books, documentaries, movies, and TV shows have examined the Salem trials.

One day many books, documentaries, movies, and TV shows will examine this accusation of wrongdoing as well.  President Trump was once a reality TV star prior to his current gig.  The casting director should choose Trump to play the role of Trump.  And, he or she should choose Alexandria Octavio Cortez to play the role of the very imaginative teenage girl.  And, it now seems certain that, reluctantly, Nancy Pelosi will direct the expose.

Lights, camera, action!