trump2020

Ten Piece Nuggets-Summer

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The weekend has come and gone.  But the Summer of Love rolls on.  Ten Nuggets that range from this to that await.

  1.  The Summer of Love rolls on, but the occupied zone CHOP had some rough weather roll in.  Tent city had yet another shooting overnight.  One person was dead and one injured on Saturday.  All of the wounded from last night were transported to the hospital via private cars.  The front gate guards and others prohibited the police to come in.  And, the police stood down.  And apparently the city leadership either ordered it so, or complied.   Astonishing really.  We wrote a week ago that you could watch it implode soon.  And, here we are.
  2. Donald Trump’s Tulsa rally fizzled badly Saturday when so many before it sizzled.  What went wrong?  Waining interest?  Doubtful, but not out of the question.  Covid-19 fears?  Maybe.  The racially charged threat of violence?  Maybe.  The arena looked empty and more often than not sounded subdued.  Trump sounded tired.  So did his act.
  3. The differences between him and hiding Joe Biden are so great it says here that he should pivot a bit and take the country through why he thinks his approach is better.  His base is as secure as the anti-Trump base is.  Both are fighting for the very few who claim to be undecided.  Maybe he was rusty like his hair color.  With no rallies in months and months was Tulsa like a warm-up band?  If so, he was singing out of key.
  4. With Mrs. Butterworth still on life support, Eskimo Pie got a terminal pie in the eye.  That’s right, no more Eskimo Pies.   Eskimo was a term that was mostly used for a handful of Native American tribes that lives in Alaska and other Arctic areas including Canda and Greenland.  In 1977 the reference was replaced by “Inuit” people or “Native Alaskans” depending.  A quick 43 years later Dreyer’s Ice Cream Company realized it was offensive.  Eskimo meant “eaters of raw meat.”  Raw meat has vitamin D in it to help with the long winter months.
  5. At least they can still enjoy their igloo’s for now.  But, should the Igloo Corporation change its namesake product as well?  If so, then the Inuit’s might then be homeless vegans.  Well, at least CHOP city isn’t too far away.
  6. Yesterday before the NASCAR Cup Race at Talledega Speedway in Alabama a plane carrying a Confederate Flag and the slogan “defund NASCAR” flew overhead.  While everyone was looking up someone slipped into Bubba Wallace’s garage and left a noose.  The  Washington Post’s Liz Clarke, who has extensively covered NASCAR, noted how closely the organization restricts access even when there isn’t a pandemic. It “controls entry into its garages,” she wrote. “Not just anyone can get into a garage stall.” The Speedway, as of Monday morning, has not commented on the incident, but there are cameras in the garages.  Something doesn’t add all of the ways up here.  Roll the tape.
  7.  The North Face is threatening to pull ads from Facebook and Instagram if Zuckerberg doesn’t agree to their demands to censor “hate speech” and whatever other types of posts it doesn’t agree with.   Other brands are expected to follow.  Facebook is a private company.   It can do as it pleases.  The North Face is a private company.  It can do as it pleases.  We heard that The Tucker Carlson Show has a few ad slots open up recently if The North Face wants to spend its advertising dollars elsewhere.  Every mountain has four sides.  Recognizing only the north face doesn’t seem inclusive.
  8. With so much attention being placed on the COVID-19 crisis and ending “systemic racism” do you worry that the biggest existential threat to our globe is being forgotten?  Experts Cory Booker, Liz Warren ( she didn’t check the “Eskimo” box on her Harvard app, she checked Native American), Bernie Sanders, and Jay Inslee told you all about it a few months, that seem like years, back.  It’s climate change, of course.  Suddenly talking about it seems so 2019.  Fear not, it’ll be important again before November 3rd.  It’s only a matter if it gets oxygen before or after another “war on women” crisis.  Miami is taking on water dammit.  At least CHOP was founded on high ground.
  9.  Will the NBA or MLB play again in 2020?  Meanwhile, the NFL seems like it’s full steam ahead.  Something doesn’t add all of the ways up here either.  MLB  has millionaires arguing with billionaires as an added eyesore to COVID-19 problem.  If the NFL mandates social distancing in the stands will it also mandate it on the field?  Spread offenses will have never looked so spread.  Huddles will be anything but.  Should the referees wear a mask?  Or, would you prefer that they wear a muzzle?  CHOP might field a team.  They want no referees at all!
  10.  Golfer Nick Whatley tested positive before round two of the RBC Heritage PGA event on Hilton Head Island Friday.  But the tournament played on as it should.  Even if you aren’t a golf fan you have to love the way the island and the course looked on HD TV.  It was a peaceful escape.  It’s a beauty, and it’s unique.   It’s so Pete Dye.  And it has stood the test of time quite nicely.   So will we.

Keep your head down.  It’s but two weeks from the Fourth of July.  That’s only 25 Zoom calls from now.

You remember it.  It’s when we celebrate our freedom and independence from oppression.

Pray for Mrs. Butterworth

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

BBR was dark yesterday.  Did you miss us?  We missed you.

We took the day off with our colleagues to reflect on the passing of two family members.  It’s tough to lose one that you are close to, much less two.

Gone is an aunt, and shockingly just hours afterward, an uncle.  Sometimes the will to live goes shortly after one loses a loved one.

RIP Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben.  Jemima lived a very long and profitable life.  Born in 1889 she passed at an unbelievable 131 years of age.  Ben wasn’t as healthy nor as wealthy but still lived a productive life.  He was born in the early ’40s, lived into his late ’70s, though an exact birth date is unknown.

And, there’s never two without three you know?  Mrs. Butterworth is on life support.  “We understand that our actions help play an important role in eliminating racial bias and as a result, we have begun a complete brand and packaging review on Mrs. Butterworth’s,” Conagra Brands Communications Manager Dan Skinner told Forbes.

You begin to wonder if it’s more than just being syrup that might be detrimental to one’s health.

Aunt Jemima met her demise for looking (and in early media sounding like) far too much like a stereotypical black woman working in a white family’s kitchen.

Uncle Ben met his maker as critics have pointed out the problematic use of a black man to be the face of a white company, noting that black men were often referred to as “boy” or “uncle” to avoid calling them “Mr.” during the country’s Jim Crow era.  The name “Uncle Ben’s” came from founder Gordon Harwell and his business partner who discussed a famed Texas farmer referred to as Uncle Ben, known for his rice.

Uncle Ben underwent plastic surgery in 2007 to extend his life.   The cosmetic procedure allowed Ben to be portrayed as a businessman, according to The New York Times.  It wasn’t enough in the end.

You have to wonder if these two icons of the food industry would be worthy of being honored with a statue.  Though, these days and times, that might not be the best idea either.

Soon maybe someone who is as “white as rice,” and is more woke than any other bloke, will suggest that black-eyed peas could meet the grim reaper next.  “Black-eyed,” you ask, is different as it isn’t a brand name?  There is no need to draw the line there to end this systemic racism.  You only eat them every New Year’s Day anyway.

Names are toppling almost as fast as statues in our cancel culture.  It’s got to be time to get after a few more statues, too.

How long before the cry begins to dynamite down the faces on Mt. Rushmore?  It could use a little cosmetic surgery as well.  Washington and Jefferson were slave owners.  Lincoln statues, which puzzles us, are being torn down too.  And Teddy Roosevelt didn’t belong up there anyway.   His presence is like Trent Dilfer winning a Super Bowl.

At least we won’t have to change the mountain’s name.  Or, will we?

 

 

The Silence Is Deafening

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Monday afternoon’s BBR staff meeting provided a look back to give us a look at what might happen going forward.  One staff member told us his story about the 2012 and 2016 elections.

In early October 2012, he moved into his new (old) home.  Driving down the street in the UHaul he realized that 14 of 22 homes had Romney/Ryan yard signs.  One had an Obama sign.  It almost sounds like this neighborhood enjoys white privilege, but we digress.  Obama won.

In 2016 that same street had but one Trump/Pence sign.  Just one.  One neighbor had a Hillary/Kaine sign.  Just one.  Trump won.  Did the silent majority speak back then?  We don’t know because they are silent.  But we have a hunch.

And now 2020 arrives at the doorsteps of this very same street and streets all across this fruited plain.  The fruited part is being bolstered by the “guerilla gardening” inside of the compound formerly known as CHAZ, but we digress.

What do you have to say silent majority?  Oops.  We forgot.  The silent majority doesn’t speak.  It watches and listens.  And we have another hunch or five to share.

Putting Russian collusion, impeachment, Covid-19 handling, lockdowns, and other attacks (from the right’s point of view) or deep concerns (from the left) aside do they see a picture being painted along the road to November 3rd, election day?

We submit they do.  And we submit that they have been watching all along and were listening and open to meaningful reforms as well.  In order to listen you have to be silent.

And, now, we surmise that the silent ones have stopped listening because The Movement won’t stop screaming long enough to listen.  And, it was going so well at first.  But, burning down cities aside, it’s now gone too far.  Arson wasn’t enough.  Looting wasn’t.  Beating innocent people wasn’t either.  Making death threats against Drew Brees and his family wasn’t enough.  The hell with free speech.   Coast to coast cries of “defund the police” wasn’t enough.

Even actual murder and attempted murder on the police that started weeks ago isn’t.  And, now you’ve armed yourself and taken over six square blocks of Seattle in this Summer of Love.  Now you’re the police.  Good luck.

Don’t use excessive force or maybe the silent majority will come and riot in your new city(named CHOP as of this AM).  Actually, they won’t.  They’ll just watch it self implode.  And self implode it will.  It’s only a matter of when.  Then, they’ll vote.

CNN had a weekend poll that showed Joe Biden had a 14 point lead on Donald Trump.  Didn’t Trump trail Clinton by 11% per the polls in 2016?  How did that turnout after the voters turned out?  Polls, schmolls.

The silent majority doesn’t speak to pollsters either.

But they’ve listened, learned, and likely become disgusted.  They’ll hit the voting booth in record numbers.

The election could be held today.  Is anyone in America undecided?

Seeing Red, White, and Feeling Blue.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Do the events of the last few weeks leave you feeling blue?  Are you so mad that you are seeing red?  Both?

NASCAR announced yesterday that they have seen enough blue and red flying around at their raceways that they have banned the display of the Confederate flag at all events going forward.  This has made Bubba Wallace very happy.  Some say that he even helped save NASCAR from itself.

Do you know who Bubba is?  He’s a successful NASCAR driver and he’s black.  Tell the truth.  It will set you free.  When you read this did you have an image of who Bubba was?  If so, are you prejudiced?  He’s not just another Bubba from Alabama.

Another Bubba, this one a professional golfer named Bubba Watson, bought a car a while back.  It wasn’t just any car though.  Two years after his first tour victory, Watson acquired his dream set of wheels, known as the General Lee, for $110,000 at the 2012 Barrett-Jackson automobile auction in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The problem was that the car featured in the hit TV show Dukes of Hazzard had the Confederate flag painted on the roof.  Bubba said enough is enough back in 2017 and painted over it.  “Obviously I love the show,” said Watson, who owns the “Dukes of Hazzard” DVD collection. “But the flag is offensive to some people. There’s been enough buzz. I thought it was the right gesture for me to do.”  Shouldn’t he rename the car as well?

Racecar here, race war there.

Jeff Foxworthy wrote a few jokes about people named Bubba along the way.  The link is a 2015 video of Jeff explaining to Jimmy Fallon how the one-liners came about-innocently. They made Jeff famous.  You know the “you know” jokes.  For example, “you know that you’re a redneck when your first name is Bubba.”  Fallon said that he loved them and thought that they were so funny.  That’s way back when we could laugh about each other and enjoy our differences.

Fallon should know.  He apologized last month for his Saturday Night Live skit of 20 years ago when he wore “blackface.”  Should Fallon have been fired for that transgression? One month’s time might have made a big difference to that answer.  And, Fallon again seems on the insensitive side for laughing at Foxworthy’s jokes.  Should he apologize again?  Or, are redneck jokes still funny?

And, what about Foxworthy?  Is his gross insensitivity to “rednecks” just as bad as wearing blackface?  The answer is no, not as of today.  Maybe never.

Or, does that depend if you hail from a blue state or a red state?

And people say they don’t see color.  After we finish with all of the rhetoric and get rid of all of the symbolism we should ask them again.

 

 

 

 

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!

 

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.

 

 

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-2020

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

After a long weekend, and a tough Tuesday that felt like Monday times three, you need your strength.  Time for Ten Piece Nuggets.

  1.  The Brood IX Cicadas are coming!  The Brood IX Cicadas are coming!  Periodical cicadas(locusts) are expected to come out in early summer across southwest Virginia, parts of North Carolina, and in West Virginia.  The last time the cicadas emerged in many of those regions was in 2003.
  2.  As many as 1.5 million of the insects can emerge per acre of land.  While they are some of the longest-lived insects in the world, periodical cicadas spend almost their entire lives underground as what entomologists call “nymphs”.  They’ll last above ground for six weeks at most.
  3. This reminds us of Joe Biden who emerged from his basement Monday long enough to place a wreath at the base of the monument that honors fallen soldiers from the great state of Delaware.  His better half, Dr. Jill was at his side.  Both were sporting facemasks.  Vain Donald Trump and wife Melania did the same in DC without a mask.  Cynics and critics are plentiful.
  4. We doubt that the cicadas will bother with a mask.  And, they’ll go back to shelter in place by late June.  We’ll know when they reemerge in spring 2037 if that process actually works.  Timing is everything.
  5. If you looked at the news on the weekend it looks like the majority of America is pretty much done with sheltering in place.  The parties were many, the locations numerous, and the crowds were large.
    Party On, Lake of the Ozarks

    But the Lake of the Ozarks pool party pic takes first prize for gross indifference to the cause.

  6. Which brings us to the great mask debate of 2020.  Now that all of the “science and data” has allowed some but not all states to restart, that same “science and data” is pulling us in two directions about the request/need/mandate to wear face masks.  Never let a crisis go wasted to score political points as well.  As usual the country is divided on a subject and has some strong feelings on it.
  7.  We wonder if Biden suddenly discovered its benefit?  It’s 50/50 if he knows whether it benefits him or those around him.  Black wasn’t his facemask color of choice for any particular reason was it?  “If you ain’t wearing a black facemask it ain’t a black facemask man!”
  8. Meanwhile, Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon has apologized for a skit he did on “Saturday Night Live” in 2000 during which he portrayed Chris Rock while wearing blackface.  According to CNN, video of the skit resurfaced recently on social media channels.  Fallon apologized on Twitter yesterday saying he “made a terrible decision.”  “There is no excuse for this. I am very sorry for making this unquestionably offensive decision and thank all of you for holding me accountable.”
  9. Using Twitter to apologize is the “new normal” these days.  Don’t you hate the phrase “new normal?”  When did what you did before COVID-19 become the “new normal?”  And, before that was the old, old, then new normal, correct?  We digress.  What’s weird is that Fallon has known that he did the skit since, well, since he did the skit. That’s 20 years.  The cicadas have come and gone and now about to come again since then.   Yet, he only apologized yesterday.  Hmm.  The cicadas shed their old nymph skins (ecdysis), expanding their wings, and changing to their adult coloring.  Sounds similar to a 20-year-old Twitter apology.
  10. MLB 2020 has yet to throw out its first pitch.  Now league officials and the player’s union are trying to get together on a plan to launch an abbreviated season.  When, where, who plays who, how many times, and who gets to watch are but some of the questions they face in their “new normal.”  Yesterday, the players union balked at the compensation that the teams want to shell out.  Fewer games, how many fans, and what is the TV revenue all goes into the budget equation.  They’ll get it together.  But, with unemployment fast approaching 20% it’s not a good look when billionaires argue with millionaires.  It never is.

The cicadas swarm is very loud.  It’s like getting mask shamed by an angry crowd at Walmart.  Eat your nuggets and stay away from both.

Science and Data Borders on Nonsense

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

To quote Mark Twain, “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”

Perhaps you felt that way when the Democrat-led House finally found what they needed to press on to impeachment of Donald Trump.  It was a “quid pro quo.”  Did you know what that was?  Or, did it send you to the Google search bar?  Worry not, it did for many of us.

Actually it did for too many of us.  That’s why suddenly in all of the interviews of Democratic House Intelligence members and all talking heads on MSNBC stopped using the phrase.  They started using the word “bribery” instead.  Why?  It’s because the Democrats polled the public and quickly realized it was more understandable, hence an easier sell.

The Democrats always poll the public.  It’s why they are so much better at controlling the narrative of the country than the Republicans.  The old, stodgy, white, know-it-all Republicans tell you what they think.  The Democrats tell you what you think.

Which brings us to COVID-19.  There isn’t a leader of a state that is slower to open than some of the rest that doesn’t begin his or her press conference with “we are following the science and the data.”  Clearly “science” and “data” are two words that resonate with America. They asked.  They know.  It sounds so logical why wouldn’t we follow?

Except there may be one little problem.  The White House Coronavirus Task Force response administrator, Dr. Debora Birx had a direct comment or two for Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Apparently, in a two weeks ago task force meeting, Birx and others were frustrated with the CDC’s antiquated system for tracking virus data, which they worried was inflating some statistics — such as mortality rate and case count — by as much as 25 percent, according to four people present for the discussion or later briefed on it.

“There is nothing from the CDC that I can trust,” Birx reportedly said, according to two of the people present.

But that didn’t stop Dr. Birx in the last few days of separate interviews.  In the first she said that an earlier lockdown would not have helped to prevent the spread of the virus.  In a subsequent one she expressed concern that the weeks’ old lockdown was not having a positive effect in Washinton, DC., Chicago, or Los Angeles.

How about a little deductive reasoning?  If an earlier lockdown would not have helped and the current one isn’t, then why did we lockdown?  It must have been because of the science and the data?  The longer you “serve” as a government employee, especially if you have a white coat with your name embroidered on it, the more this makes sense we assume.  Having a scarf must help, too.

Finally, Birx worried aloud that “the fall could possibly bring the virus back as strong as ever.”  Coincidentally, last week, the Director of the National Hurricane Center said “this season’s storms could possibly be more numerous than last year.”  “Could possibly?”  That’s going out on a limb.

Georgia looked at the science and the data.  They said, “enough already.”  So far, so good.  Why?  No one is sure, but the answer must lie in the science and the data.

Meanwhile Trump has had it with the great state of North Carolina’s slow reopening.  In less than 100 days there is this little Republican National Convention of some interest scheduled in Charlotte.  On Monday, Governor Roy Cooper responded to Trump’s tweet, saying, “State health officials are working with the RNC and will review its plan as they make decisions about how to hold the convention in Charlotte. North Carolina is relying on data and science to protect our state’s public health and safety.”

Cooper got it backward.  He said “data and science.”  It’s “science and data.”  Maybe that’s why they are slower to open in NC than in Georgia.

The two states share a little border.  There must be some strong antiviral “stuff” on the Georgia side of that ever so thin state line.

We should ask Birx and the CDC to see what the science and the data tell us about it.

 

 

A Nightmare Prop Bet

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Yesterday we offered a couple of proposition bets on the NCAA playing or not this fall.  Today we offer a prop bet on the 11/3/20 election.

As #hidenbiden trends on Twitter, we have “Sleepy Joe” at plus $180 to actually NOT be the Democratic Pary’s nominee for President.  You bet $100 to win $180 that Biden goes home in August with his MyPillow.com pillow in hand.    The DNC has to fear, we repeat, has to fear that the sunset is near.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has delayed its convention a month, yet still plans to do it virtually.  Safety is the key they say.  Or, is it?  Why delay it a month if you aren’t physically attending to begin with?

There might have even been a glimpse into that thinking yesterday.  “First of all, our convention has to happen, because we are not officially nominating Joe Biden in order to take Donald Trump,” Xochitl Hinojosa, communications director for the DNC replied during an interview.  “So our convention is happening. There is business that has to happen.”

Or could her combo of words be a gaffe?  Hinojosa has yet to clarify her remarks.  It would be befitting of the party whose presumptive nominee spits out more gaffes daily than the Feds print money.

Take yesterday for example.   Please.  In just one video conference from Biden’s basement, he won the rare Triple Crown.  First, he needed off-camera prompting that he was on the air.  Two, he told the country that in this pandemic we have lost 85k jobs and millions of people.  “Millions of people,” he repeated.  “Millions of jobs,” he finished.  Finally, stammering, to complete the trifecta he forgot the name of one of his top medical advisers.  All three dreadful videos are captured in this article.

Just before Biden went into hiding all of his Democratic challengers obediently folded like some fine sheets made from Giza region cotton.  Crazy Bernie was the lone holdout.  But, he virtually conceded the race when he virtually conceded the race.  Sanders didn’t want to be President anyway.  He just likes to be Bernie for a while every four years.

Honestly, it was funny at the outset.  Now, it’s just said frankly.

He needs the best night’s sleep in the whole, wide world because a nightmare named Trump awaits.

Who will be the nominee if Biden is a no show? That’s a bet for another day to handicap.

For now, take “no Joe” for $100 to win $180.

 

 

 

Meet the New Press

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Have you seen the selective edit of Bill Barr’s interview used by Chuck Todd on Sunday’s Meet the Press?  Yesterday, it was all of the (out)rage on conservative talk radio as well as on the Fox News Network.

And that, unfortunately, is exactly the point.  It’s already yesterday’s news.

As the Russian Collusion, Mueller Investigation, and Impeach Trump continues to fall further apart and the heat from the AG is now on the those that brought the, umm, Trumped-up charges both sides have predictably dug in once again.

No less than former President Barack Obama came out to weigh in on this heavyweight fight.  He, oh so elegantly, worried that this possible pardoning of General Flynn was a subordination of the rule of law.  Adam Schiff said that is would set the Justice Department’s credibility back 50 years to the Watergate era.  Should Schiff be the one talking about credibility?  We digress.

NBC, so regretful of their national broadcast error, said in a tweet written by no one you know that it regretted the inadvertent editing.  If you watched the show, but don’t have a Twitter account that follows NBC News, you would not ever see the insufficient regret.

President Trump, acting like a former TV star of The Apprentice called for Todd to be fired.  But, he added that he knew that he wouldn’t be.  And, that too is exactly the point.

In today’s fractured nation, both sides immediately line up behind their political preference, truth and principles be dammed.  If you don’t believe that ask either Tara Reade or the dumbfounded #metoo members.

The result, or possibly the cause as well, is that anything and everything can now be said with little to no fear of reprisal.  Journalism, as it was once known, is no longer.  Chuck Todd knowingly deleted the last two sentences of Barr’s response to support his narrative and knew beforehand that he had cover to do it.

In yesteryear, editors checked and rechecked material for accuracy before it was written or spoken.  Two sources on everything was mandatory.  Quotes were painstakingly quoted word for word.  Credibility was cherished and was the long term goal.

No more.  Now, the goal is twofold.  The first goal enables the second goal.  The first goal is ratings.  If you have ratings the ad revenue streams in.  Everyone gets fed.  Want to get fed?  Feed the base that you appeal to some red meat.   If you don’t have ratings you don’t have a show.

If Chuck Todd couldn’t carry the ball for Meet the Press he would have met the NBC human resource team just before being escorted out of the door long ago.  Today you don’t get fired for misspeaking, inaccuracy, inadvertent omissions, inadvertent misquotes, or outright lying (Brian Williams).  You can get fired if you sexually harass your makeup artist (Chis Matthews) or frequent contributors (Bill O’Reilly).  And you will get fired if your ratings don’t produce enough ad money for the time slot you compete in.

With a divided country you can almost say anything you want.  Why? Because soon you will be yesterday’s news.  And in today’s journalistic world apparently that is a good thing.