mitchmcconnell

TBH

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

One of our senior writers was sitting poolside last evening with a cigar in one hand and two fingers of Maker’s Mark in a glass in the other.  And, it dawned on him.

That’s what they want.  “To be honest, I all but forgot about the 2016 election stink about Trump and his team colluding with the Russians.”    That’s what they want us to do.

Four years of work, sixty million of your taxpayer dollars, and a whole lot of virtual trees produced a “remember all of that subterfuge” moment yesterday.  And to be honest the Durham Report flat out states that a lot of agencies and people involved weren’t too honest.

It’s important to separate the Mueller probe from the Durham Report.

One found that the Russians attempted to influence the presidential election, but found that the Trump campaign had nothing to do with it.

The second one found that the FBI, the DOJ, lovely Hillary Rodham Clinton, Christopher Steele, Peter Strzok, his mistress, and others actually were the ones colluding in an attempt to trump Trump.

If you get enough people to rally behind a cause all willing to lie and you repeat the false claims enough times and with enough volume you too can influence American politics and, more importantly, elections.

Adam Schiff fed CNN weekly.  How many times did he state, “We now have verifiable evidence that Donald Trump conspired with the Russians to influence the election?”  Many.  Minion Eric Swalwell parroted the same time and again.

The author of this debunked 2016 Hillary Clinton lie is currently sitting inside the White House as President Biden’s National Security Advisor.   That’s Jake Sullivan.  He took the Steele Dossier hook, line, and sinker to Team Clinton.

HH, or honest Hillary, tweeted on 10/31/16, “Computer scientists have apparently uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Organization to a Russian-based bank.”

How about the DNC?  The Durham report states that Clinton General Counsel Marc Elias “declined to be voluntarily interviewed by the Office.” Elias was recently severed by the Democratic National Committee from representation. The campaign was fined by the FEC for his hiding the funding of the whole mess.

Enter the FBI and the DOJ, just not your father’s FBI or DOJ.  The Department of Justice and the FBI did not have “any actual evidence of collusion” between Russian officials and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, and began their Crossfire Hurricane probe of Trump’s campaign based on “raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence.”

Operation Crossfire Hurricane, as most hurricanes do, left a lot of destruction in the path of its uncontrolled fury.

But they have learned much from this.  “The conduct in 2016 and 2017 that Special Counsel Durham examined was the reason that current FBI leadership already implemented dozens of corrective actions, which have now been in place for some time. Had those reforms been in place in 2016, the missteps identified in the report could have been prevented,” the FBI said yesterday.  Timely.

Reforms?  How about doing your job honestly and thoroughly?  No reform is needed, just good people without political agendas.

So what comes of this?  Trump was impeached for a “perfect call” to a guy we’ve since given 200 billion to and again for a messy January 6th insurrection that really wasn’t an insurrection.  Dems don’t play around.

You would like to think that smart people, regardless of affiliation, would recognize the atrocity of all of this and take congressional then legal action against the perps.

But, trust your gut.  The Dems will not.  After all, Schiff needs the Senate seat that Dianne Feinstein doesn’t know that she occupies anymore, Hillary is yesterday’s news, the FBI says it fixed all of its problems, the DOJ doesn’t take kindly to whistleblowers, Biden likely doesn’t even know who Jake Sullivan is when they pass in the White House halls, and Marc Ellis already extended his middle finger.

And the Republicans?

Mitch McConnell will mumble in front of a podium and no one will listen.  Speaker McCarthy will sport a fresh haircut and speak eloquently in front of a podium and not do anything.

And, a splintered party will eventually nominate the target of all of this.   It’s loaded with baggage.  It’s Trump.  And, it is mission accomplished.

Nothing to see here and soon you’ll forget about it anyway.

To be honest.  Or, not.

 

 

 

A House Divided

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Today is day two.  Yesterday was day one- the First Session of the 118th United States Congress commenced with Members of the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives in attendance.

Like going back to school, everything was new.  Pencils are long and freshly sharpened.  Notebooks have nothing but white pages and the spiral is still binding.  You can clearly read the words “on” and “off” on the on/off button of your TI 30 calculator.  Chewed bubble gum stuck under the desks is but a thought for the future.  Hope filled the chambers.

It was business as usual in the Senate.  But in the House, a few malcontents on the new majority side want this session to be anything but business as usual.  They took out their erasers.

Nearly two hundred of their Republican colleagues voted not once but thrice to elect Kevin McCarthy as Speaker. But, led by Rep (R) Matt Gaetz of Florida nearly 20 voted present, which means “I’m here, but I not supporting McCarthy until he gives us a more conservative approach to include what we want in this year’s agenda.”

Gaetz said, “if you want to drain the swamp you cannot put the biggest alligator in charge!”

So “nothing got done in the House” on day one.

Is that a bad thing?  Maybe less government is a good thing?  Didn’t the House with the help of 18 or so turncoat Republican Senators pass a $1.7 trillion Omnibus Bill late in December to keep us running ever so smoothly into the new year?

That was so 2022.  What have you done for me lately?  Already, do we need more pork, committees, investigations, Covid boosts, and Trump tax returns?

Those tax returns were a big fat greasy nothing burger, weren’t they? We digress.

The timing is dripping with irony (or planning).  President Joe Biden and the biggest RINO of all, Mitch McConnell, are taking a victory lap across a bridge together in Kentucky today celebrating the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Bill passed in 2021.

New house Minority leader (D) Hakeem Jeffries thinks yesterday’s vote, and vote, and vote was a bad thing.  He tweeted “it’s day one and we Democrats have our House in order and are ready to go to work. The Republicans aren’t.”

He got every vote of the 212 cast by Dems to be the Speaker.  Of course, he did.  And, therein lies the lie.  If the Dems were ready to go to work WITH the other side, surely one of them would have seen fit to vote for McCarthy?  Or, maybe could one find a way to vote present?

One?  Just one?

Of course, they won’t.  Dems never divide.  It’s one of their strengths.  But, this time their strength isn’t in enough numbers.  Jeffries is seven votes shy of the 219 needed.  He’ll never get there.

That the Republicans take time to get their house in order is such a big deal.  It’s a failure.  It’s the end of the world.  Except it isn’t.

See what they did there?  Every one of them voted against McCarthy.  But, heaven forbid that 19 or so Elephants essentially did as well.  They actually partially agreed with the Donkeys about McCarthy and they get chastised for it.

“A house divided cannot stand,” said one Abraham Lincoln.  Except this House divided can stand.  It has.  And, it will.

Is Jim Jordan the bridge to get the Republicans all on one side?

Time and politics will tell.

Meanwhile, today it’s time for two septuagenarians savvy at politics to tell us how great Mitch’s bridge to get Mitch’s vote will be.

Wink. Wink.

 

 

 

 

Questions as Answers

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

You’ve got questions.  You’re not supposed to answer a question with a question.  We did anyway.

Q.  Does it seem like Elon Musk is three steps ahead of everyone else?

A.  Does it seem like Elon Musk is four steps ahead of everyone else?

Q.  Is this the loudest fight for free speech in your lifetime?

A.  Do you need to reread the answer to question no. 1 above?

Q.  Haven’t the conspiracy theorists been leery of having a chip implanted in their bodies so that others can control how we think and who we are?

A.  Is (as Musk says it is) Neuralink, launched in 2016 with the goal of developing a chip that would allow the brain to control complex electronic devices and eventually allow people with paralysis to regain motor function, ready to begin testing in humans?

Q.  Why did Elon call out Tim Cook publicly on Twitter for pulling 17 million in advertising?

A.  Do you, once again, need to reread the answer to question no. 1 above?

Q.  Does Apple have, as Ricky Riccardo would say to Lucy, some esplaining to do for aiding China by turning off the airdrop feature in this lockdown?

A.  Does Apple’s Cook deliver the iPhone 14 on time and in the quantity desired because of the terrible mess over there, or is his goose cooked?

Q. Does telling people that you are glad that you have tested positive but have mild symptoms because you are vaxxed and boosted make you feel better about your decision?

A.  Does telling people you’re glad you wore a condom even though your significant other is pregnant make you feel better?

Q.  Did Joe Biden walk off of the stage yesterday with the microphone in hand still in the ready-to-talk position?

A.  Did someone forget to type “put down microphone after speech” on his note cards?

Q.  Did Canadian PM Trudeau say “Everyone in China should be allowed to protest?  We will continue to ensure that China knows we stand for human rights?”

A.  Didn’t Trudeau send out his police to arrest truckers protesting in Canada last year?

Q.  Is Mitch McConnell really all in on giving more money to Ukraine?

A.  Is there even a war being fought in Ukraine, or is this the biggest money laundering scheme since, well, ever?  How much money are all of the EU nations combined giving?

Q.  Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?

A.  Why are we having this debate anyway?

You want answers?  We have questions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That Little Clown Car is Full

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The November midterm elections are barreling down on us faster than Ian went through Florida (too soon?).  And the circus has all three rings full of actions.

Send in the clowns.  Where are the clowns?  They’re all piling out of the little car at once.

In the hotly contested Georgia Senate race that has major national implications, Herschel Walker hopped out with a big red fake nose on.

He’s running as an anti-abortion candidate and he ran to Hannity for cover.  Asked if he indeed suggested that a woman whose unborn child he may have been a part of creating received money from him for an abortion he said no.

Asked if he sent her money he said he gives money away all of the time.  There is also the allegation that he sent her a signed get well soon card.  Coincidence?

He also recently admitted to having four children.  For a long time, he acknowledged but one.  It’s easy to forget about the other three with the way kids act these days.

The Dems fresh off of a 1/2 a trillion student loan debt forgiveness giveaway to buy the 20 to 30-year-old vote selectively struck again.

Kamala Harris told a reporter over the weekend when discussing the hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico and Florida, and we exactly quote, “On the point that you made about disparities: You know back when I was District Attorney of San Francisco  I started one of the first environmental justice units of any DA’s office in the country focused on this issue. And in particular on the disparities, as you have described rightly, which is that it is our lowest income communities and our communities of color that are most impacted by these extreme conditions and impacted by issues that are not of their own making.”

The word windbag comes to mind.  May we recommend a little environmental justice to top off your word salad?

Boil it down and she is saying we need to give more money to climate change needs and direct that money to the minority communities.  Those are daily double Dem talking points.

It was a busy week for the VP.  Earlier standing 50 yards from and looking through binoculars at North Korea from South Korea she took to the podium.  And, she exclaimed that the U.S. shares an alliance with North Korea that is strong and enduring.”

Does the border czar know the difference between North and South Korea?  She was looking down at her notes while talking.  It’s hard to read “north” when seeing the written word “south,” isn’t it?  Or, is it vice versa?

Does Joe Biden know that the late Rep. Jackie Walorski is dead?  Where’s Jackie?  Is she here?

Does a bear……….?

Maybe Czar Kamala was hoping for a few Koreans to cross a border, any border, and gain the right to vote this November via absentee ballot.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Monday that she believes Democrats will keep control of the House after the November midterm elections as polls show the nation is relatively split on which political party it wants in the majority.  Or, maybe America wants neither party?

If she is right, the most experienced clowns of all, Pelosi, Schumer, McConnell, and McCarthy can keep driving the little funny car right over the cliff.

Send in the clowns.

 

 

 

 

 

Does Lindsey Play For the Other Team?

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The old adage that a tie is like kissing your sister rings true in politics this AM.

Heretofore, this site has long held the belief that the best thing going for the Democrats in DC is the lead Senate Republican in DC, one Mitch McConnell.

He looks old, he sounds old, he is old(80), and he sells out always willing to send two bucks the Democrats’ way if he can send one home to Kentucky.  He inspires few.

But, yesterday, another RINO pulled into a first-place tie with old Mitch.  That senator’s name is Lindsey Graham.

In basketball, you feed the shooter.  In other words, you pass the ball to the man, or woman, who has the hot hand and can score.

Old Lindsey(67) fed the hot hand yesterday.  Except he threw the ball to the other team.

Graham announced yesterday a bill to ban abortion after 15 weeks as debate rages over the issue after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade earlier this year.  President Biden jumped all over that ruling in the early summer saying Roe v. Wade was on the ballot come this November.

And, it is.

And fan-boy Graham just fanned the flames.

Titled the “Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act,” (word salad that would make VP Kamala proud) the legislation comes as Democrats hammer the GOP on the campaign trail over state laws restricting abortions.  Apparently, allowing the states to make their own laws wasn’t enough for him.

Graham said Tuesday morning that his bill is similar to laws in other developed countries and could actually help Republicans running in the midterms.  Seven weeks out from election day and he pokes the bear.

You cannot be this stupid naive, can you?

“I don’t know what Democratic candidates in these contested states will say about a bill such as mine,” Graham said.  Our guess is plenty, loud, and often.

Polls show that the Democrats have made up solid ground in house races since the ruling that effectively overturned Roe v. Wade this summer.  In fact, over 60% of all Americans favor abortion.  That number reaches 73% when it’s women only polled.

The Republican’s playbook is paper thin compared to Democratic strategists.

Lindsey just added a page to it.  The play is called “throw the ball right to them.”

And, make no mistake, they know how to shoot it.

We can’t help but ask, “does Lindsey like kissing his sister?”

 

That Pesky Swamp Thing

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Have you ever heard anyone say, “OMG, why would anyone ever have voted for Donald J. Trump?”  We thought so.

Why?  “Why” was on full display yesterday in Washington DC, otherwise known as The Swamp.

Current president in name only Joe Biden addressed a few important issues.  On one, inflation, he was asked what his plan was to combat this runaway train.  His answer was that it’s 1) covid’s fault, and 2) Putin’s fault.

He went on and asked what the GOP plan to fight inflation was. “How about spending less?” Ted Cruz tweeted back later.

Finally, Biden went for the kill shot.  His teleprompter prompted him to exclaim that his spending policies help lower inflation not make prices go higher.

In short, assign blame elsewhere, make it political, ignore the problem, and spend more money.

Meanwhile down the street another pesky Swamp Thing, Mitch McConnell, took the podium in the Capitol Rotunda.  He proudly stated that he contacted the President directly last week and told him that in order to get more aid for Ukraine, they should rush a bill through that had nothing extraneous attached to it.  Let’s get $40 billion directly to Ukraine ASAP.

He went on to say that he thought all of us could agree that the war in Ukraine was the most important issue facing Americans today.  Out of touch, much?

This is the same Senate minority leader who helped usher in Obamacare after the Democrats greased his old sweaty palm with $2 billion inside of that “affordable healthcare act” earmarked for infrastructure spending in his great home state-Kentucky.  If you like your interstate you can expand your interstate.

This is the same Senate minority leader who said last month that if the Republicans regained control of the Senate that he would indeed be the majority leader all over again.

This is the same Senate that has 50 Republicans that didn’t offer one scintilla of objection to his power grab before the Republicans possibly grab the power again.

Meanwhile, down at the virtual ink press, The Washington Post ran a story titled George Washington University Needs to Change Its Name.  Do you notice any similarities in the two bolded words in the previous sentence?

That’s journalism 101?  What’s important now?

Meh.  What’s $40 billion anyway?

  1. A LOT of money.
  2. The same amount that a citizen is paying for Twitter when everyone flipped their non free speech lid.  It’s his money. He can do what he wants.
  3. This $40 billion is your money. Washington thinks they can do what they want.
  4. Except, it’s money that you don’t have.
  5. As a matter of fact, you don’t have the $30 trillion that you (the U.S.) owe to creditors and counting.

Is the $40 billion a part of a NATO aid package?  Doubtful.  How much combined have the other NATO nations provided.  Our guess is that it’s in the very few millions with an “M.”

Can Volodymyr Zelenskyy turn the $40 billion into tanks, bullets, or guns anytime soon?  We’ve heard of Carvana, but not Tankvana.

Have you ever heard anyone, or everyone, at a Trump rally chant harmoniously “Drain the Swamp, Drain the Swamp?”

We thought so. We hope so.  Like a bankruptcy sale, everyone must go.

Maybe The Washington Post should change its name to The Swamp Post.

It should.

 

 

Imagine That

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Imagine a country governed by people who feel like a five-year-old understands gender orientation/identification but an 18-year-old doesn’t understand that if you borrow money for college you have to pay it back.

But for that to happen you’d have to imagine a country that has a president who said yesterday to teachers about their students at the White House Teachers of the Year Event, “they’re not somebody else’s children.  They’re yours when you’re in the classroom.”

Imagine studying, for example, art appreciation, and realizing at 25 years of age that your degree can’t afford a tank of gas much less a loan payback.

Some wake-up calls happen later than others, but all are part of life’s lessons.

Imagine that the keepers of the taxpayers’ money think it’s actually a good lesson to teach loan forgiveness.  Do car or house loans in the future come equipped with a ripcord too?  Why would we teach anyone to live within (or preferably below) their means?

Is this a downpayment for a vote in the midterms?

Imagine the understandable outrage of parents who scraped to save for their child’s college while watching another handout.

Imagine the understandable outrage of valuable blue-collar workers who learned a trade at their own expense and now inevitably realize that the student loan debt is transferred to their backs.

Imagine a party currently out of power that could succinctly “sell” against the shell game above, get elected, and actually do right by the everyday working man and woman in this country.

To do that you’d need to imagine that “man” and “woman” are words still recognized by men and women.

To do that you’d need to imagine a party that was conservative, not Republican that spends like the party in power.

To do that you’d need to imagine a party that did not have people named McConnell, McCarthy, Graham, Cheney, and Romney in powerful positions.

To do that you’d need progressive (not that kind) thinking.

Someone better think like that and fast.  Because progressive(that kind) thinking, in less than one week after Elon Musk finalized an agreement to buy Twitter the Department of Homeland Security, created what they are calling a Disinformation Governance Board’ dedicated to “countering misinformation.”

Lose control of Twitter? No problem!  We’ll wield a word ax over any and all spoken and written words.

A Ministry of Truth is what opponents are calling it.  Will the Disinformation Governance Board deem the characterization “Ministry of Truth” as misinformation?

Imagine someone running the Ministry named Nina Jankowicz.  Last week, Jankowicz said she opposes The First Amendment for apparently being bad for ‘marginalized communities.’  We’d imagine marginalized communities is gobbledy gook for “minorities.”

Now that we forgave student loans, let’s get back to the real problems in this country-equity, inclusion, and diversity!

Jeez. Wasn’t it just last week that Disney execs reimagined their imaginary characters to do just that?

Imagine that.

Lefty and Shorty-Trials, Tribulations, and Turtles

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Way way back in 1966, or 1967 Lefty and Shorty were the amiable service station attendants.  Well, that’s what they were called back then as every pump was full serve.   Boom Boom interacted with them as they checked the oil, washed the windshield, pumped the gas, and took the money.

Lefty sat to the left of Shorty.  Imagine that.  Shorty sat on the shorter of the two “halves” of the 55 gallon drum. Imagine that.  Each were cut down to size and retrofitted with a soft cushion top.

They were funny. They always had a back and forth to their banter.  If they were alive last night might have gone like this.

Lefty- It’s nearly midnight and it’s cold. Nobody’s buying gas at this hour.  Why are we sitting here?  Shorty- So we can flip back and forth between the impeachment trial and the Kansas St. versus Kansas basketball game.   Lefty- The Senate Trial is still going on at this late hour?  Shorty- Speaking of this late hour I’ve got this last car that pulled in.  They are good tippers. Lefty- Fine.

Five minutes later.

Lefty- You missed it!  Shorty- What?  Lefty-  They tried to hit the man with the chair.  Shorty- They tried to hit Chairman “Pencil Neck” Adam Schiff?  Lefty-  No. No. It was in the game.  Shorty- Oh.  Why did he do that?  Lefty- I guess he was tired of watching his opponent try to drain threes.  Shorty- I thought maybe they were tired of watching Schiff and Nadler obstruct Trump trying to drain the swamp.  Lefty- Jeez.

Shorty- What’s Trump on trial for again?  Lefty- It’s for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.  Shorty-  Obstructing this Congress seems like a good idea.  Lefty- What?  Shorty- Doesn’t Mitch McConnell look like a bug eyed swamp fly that we clean off of windshields all day long?  Lefty- Please.  The irreverence.  Shorty- And Nadler, he looks like a snapping turtle.  I wouldn’t get between him and a late lunch.

Silence filled the air again.  Lefty, after some deep breathing and reflection, and against his better judgment, gave it one more go.

Lefty- What do you think the final outcome will be?  Shorty- It was 81-60 Kansas, remember.  Lefty- NO!  The outcome of the trial.  Shorty- I’m not sure.  The right is screaming “four more years” and they control the Senate.  Lefty- And?  Shorty- And the left is screaming “lock him up” but don’t have the votes.  It seems bogged down like a swamp.  And, America is running out of patience.    Lefty-  I know the feeling.  Maybe the chair will be useful after all.  Shorty- Schiff?  Lefty-  I’ll lock up.

Ridiculous

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Yesterday in the hallowed halls of the U.S. Congress Madame Speaker Nancy Pelosi was asked to comment on the six page letter sent to her by the 45th President of the United States Donald J. Trump.

“No comment,” she said while walking hurriedly to her next meeting.  “It’s ridiculous,” she continued.  Trump’s letter was a head strong opinion of all that he felt is wrong with the Impeachment process. “I haven’t read it, ” she continued, “we’ve been very busy today.”

We wonder.  She said that she had no comment.  But, she did call it ridiculous.  That sounds like a comment.   She said that she hadn’t read it.  But, she did call it ridiculous.  How would she know that it was if she hadn’t read it?  Ridiculous, that is.

Last night the House Rules Committee was working well into the evening(earning the people’s business) to determine the exact proceedings for today’s full House hearing prior to two separate votes.  At 10PM or so EST they decided that there would be six hours of hearings on the most important vote any of them will make in their lifetimes.  Six hours for 435 representatives equates to 50 seconds per member.  It sounds like many, many will only actually have time to say “yea” or “nay.”

A few years and biscuits ago.

At least they concluded their meeting with finality in their decisions.  Late last week Jerry Nadler, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, decided to suspend that committee’s meeting as the evening had grown too late.  It was nearly the same 10PM.  He reconvened in the AM for the world to see the adoption of the two Articles of Impeachment.  Grandstanding.  Or, perhaps Jerry needed a late night snack.  Ridiculous.

Meanwhile, yesterday the FISA Court in a rare public expression, came out in a strongly worded opinion against the FBI’s now exposed abuse and likely criminal behavior in obtaining warrants to surveil the Trump Campaign to begin with.   Ridiculous.

The Johnny on the Spot FBI wanted everyone to know that they were going to quickly make changes.   “As [FBI Director Christopher Wray] has stated, the inspector general’s report describes conduct by certain FBI employees that is unacceptable and unrepresentative of the FBI as an institution,” the bureau responded in a statement Tuesday night. “The director has ordered more than 40 corrective steps to address the report’s recommendations, including some improvements beyond those recommended by the IG.”

A quick THREE years later it’s time to change.  And, more than 40 corrective steps were ordered!  So, illegally obtained warrants designed to surveil for possible illegal activity provided all the cover needed to continue the FBI’s illegal surveillance.  Got it.  Ridiculous.

Wall St seems totally unfazed.  Since the Impeachment Inquiry was formalized just seven weeks ago in the House the Dow is up 6%, the S&P 8%, and the NASDAQ 10%.  They know that this is going absolutely nowhere.  Perhaps we should impeach more Presidents.

All of which brings us to today.  The full House will convene, and after six hours of burning the retreads off of tires that long ago should have been retired, they will vote almost 100% down party lines.  The Democrats will say “yea” more times than the Republicans can say “nay.”  Then the “yea’s” will have it, and presto, Trump will be impeached.   Is it even possible for two power hungry sides to see things, or at least pretend to see things, so clearly differently?  Ridiculous.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is preparing for the possibility of a January month long Senate Impeachment Trial(circus).  Though just yesterday he hinted at an immediate dismissal vote after the Impeachment Articles are formally entered onto the Senate floor.

Hopefully he won’t be too busy to read the articles while walking in front of all of his staff members down the hallowed halls like the Madame Speaker was yesterday.  If so, he’ll likely have “no comment,” just like Pelosi did, or did not.   Ridiculous.

Keep hope alive!