ukraine

Ten Piece Nuggets

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The Texas drought (insert climate change sarcasm) caused a three-month nugget supply chain issue.  Then the rains came 72 hours ago.  Let’s get to them.

  1. Do you listen to #iheartradio?   They have more COVID scare commercials than J&J and Pfizer combined.  Last night they lit up the Empire State Building in blue to bring awareness to themselves and the coming next threat certainly in that order.  It should make you see red.
  2. Three years ago America was scared of COVID and mostly welcomed the “free” vaccination to vax the nation that wasn’t a vaccination nor free.  Three years later they’re going to cost about $100 a jab and we predict that the open arms with rolled-up sleeves will be few and far between.
  3. Speaking of commercials, surely and unfortunately you’ve seen the one touting the pharmaceutical prescription issued Jardiance?  It’s approved to lower blood sugar.  It has to be, we repeat has to be, the worst commercial ever.  It’s just an opinion, but it’s a strong one.
  4. The US Military is asking for the public’s help in locating a missing $80 million dollar F-35 stealth fighter in South Carolina.  Officials reported last evening that there was no concrete evidence of it crashing.  The pilot ejected along the way.  We should take better care of our toys.  Of course, $80 million isn’t what it used to be, just ask Ukraine.
  5. Speaking of lost, we can’t find any video of Epstein’s cell or from the White House that got a little whiter when some cocaine was left behind.  But, if you want to see Rep Lauren Boebert get chummy with her beau in a theater in the dark, we’ve got TMZ-level coverage.
  6. The Senate officially changed its rules so that Senators no longer have to dress decently to appear on the Senate floor.  Call it the Fetterman Rule.  How low can we go?  It’s yet another example of reducing standards or laws in the country.  Lower the bar low enough and everyone passes the test.  Thank you Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

  7. Hunter Biden’s attorneys filed a lawsuit against the IRS on Monday, alleging that agents have “targeted and sought to embarrass” the president’s son. Biden’s lawsuit seeks for the court to declare that the IRS “willfully, knowingly, and/or by gross negligence, unlawfully disclosed Mr. Biden’s confidential tax information.”  Hasn’t he cost America enough already?  Rules for thee, but not for me.

  8. “Nancy Pelosi was in charge of security. She turned down 10,000 soldiers. If she didn’t turn down the soldiers, you wouldn’t have had Jan. 6,” former President Donald Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker during a recent sit-down interview aired yesterday.  He’s persistent.  But is he right?  If so, it sheds a different light on the dark day.  Will we ever know?
  9. Pelosi retorted yesterday as well. “There is a sickness here that has to be an intervention. That intervention has to be the election, which we have to win. That’s one of the reasons why I am running again, to fight for our democracy. Which is at stake, if he’s on the ballot.”  Seems like our democracy is always at stake.
  10. Deion Sanders and the transfer portal, not in that order, have changed the college football game.  It’s not that he’s 3-0.  It’s that he’s brought an incalculable amount of free press to a university that hasn’t been relevant in the sport for 20 years.  Last night it was 60 Minutes that cozied up.

 

Happy Monday!

 

 

 

 

MAGA, MAFA, MOFO

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

It seems unlikely that we can Make America Great Again(MAGA).  Elections, 81 million voters, election denials, impeachments, insurrections, and classified documents seem to have derailed the Trump train like the one in East Palestine, OH.

Maybe we could at least Make America Fun Again(MAFA).  It would be nice to wake up with less stress and have a thing or two to smile about.

Cause right now and for the better part of three years it’s been MOFO-no further explanation needed.

If you head to the grocery store and hit double-digit purchases the cash register hits triple-digit costs.  This assumes that what you want is in stock.

Of course, the cost of funding Ukraine’s war makes grocery shopping look like a bargain.  If you oppose the funding half of the citizens label you a Putin/Russia lover.  Never mind that NATO requirements far surpass the way Ukraine is run to consider them joining.

At least Biden is waging war on banks that charge too much when you fail to pay on time.  Never mind that a few are failing.  Bailouts cost depositors beyond 250k nothing when the bank has run out of money.  Rules used to mean something.

Did you want to buy a house?  Interest on 30-year money is 7.3% or about double what it was a year ago.  Did you want to sell your house?  Read the sentence two back from this one.  But, banks can’t make money cause short-term rates make borrowing too expensive apparently.

Minnesota Democrat Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan on an executive order “protecting” access to “gender-affirming care” said, “When our children tell us who they are, it is our job as grown-ups to listen and to believe them.”  Remember when it was a child’s job to listen to their parents and believe them?

At least that sounds fun.  You can be whoever you want to be.

If you’re nearing retirement age you can enjoy the fruits of your labor by supplementing the social security check with your 401k savings and earnings.  Well, you can enjoy half as much fruit anyway.

Be happy if you were/are a supporter of the southern border wall that the Trump Administration was building.  The good news is that sections of it and supplies to build it are still there, just resting rusting on land that our government is leasing at a cost of about 130k a day, or just about 50 million a year.  No supply chain shortage there.

The global demand for cocaine has reached record levels as use rebounds following coronavirus lockdowns. North America leads the way in demand for the illicit substance.  Are you surprised?  It flows pretty freely across the border and gives one an escape from all of the above we presume.

At least the China virus that you can’t call the China virus is done.  Isn’t it?  If not, vax and boosters are still free.

Some of the best things in life are free.

Right now, they just aren’t much fun even if Kamala is cackling daily.

Hey MOFO, lets MAFA!

 

 

 

Ten Piece Nuggets

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

There is never a supply chain shortage of news that gives us pause.  Nuggets follow.

  1. In the “City That Care Forgot” the advice and the adult beverages were flowing yesterday.  As Lent begins, some Mardi Gras partygoers in the Big Easy shared ideas for what President Biden could sacrifice for the 40-day observance.  “His presidency,” one woman visiting from Virginia said.
  2. Can’t almost all of us agree that the optic of Biden following Zelenskyy around like a puppy yesterday contrasted with the black toxic cloud above East Palestine, OH will be used repeatedly by his Republican opposition in 2024?  You can hear Trump. Make America Great Again.
  3. That assumes of course that Biden will run.  He says he is and he says he’ll announce it soon.  Father Time is aggressive and progressive.  Most polls show nearly 3/4ths of all Americans think he should not run.  That’s a significant hurdle.
  4. Of course, if Trump gains the Republican nomination many of those three-fourths will recalibrate how they feel about old Joe.  We’ve said before, Trump running is Biden’s ticket to another four.
  5. Smart folks in the DNC should plan an exit strategy for Biden.  Smart folks in the RNC should plan a do not enter strategy for Trump.
  6. Why is Ukraine’s war our war and our money used to fight it?  If you say it’s for freedom, democracy, or it’s the right thing to do it’s not.  Ukraine is not a democracy.  And, it’s as crooked as it gets.
  7. Twitter types are typing “every day we are getting closer to WW3.”  Elon Musk tweeted back, “For sure.”  Maybe.  There is a long way to go to get there.  There was until yesterday.  The saber-rattling continues to escalate.  Putin suspended his country’s nuclear treaty with us in a speech yesterday.
  8. Back to the train derailment, Pete Buttigieg told a local tv station yesterday that he is “still planning to come to Ohio at some point, but he cannot say when.”  It’s only 18 days and counting.  Ohio is a major piece of the electoral college national puzzle.  Trump visits today.  Pete’s tenure as Secretary of Transportation is captured perfectly by this train wreck, unfortunately.  Hey, but at least we have diversity.
  9. There is no truth to the rumor that Ilhan Omar withdrew support for East Palestine after learning that it’s actually in America.
  10. In the last 10 months, the median price for a home in San Franciso plunged by nearly 33%.  Why?  Interest rates maybe.  Bad publicity probably.  When homelessness goes up, nearby home prices go down.  It’s an ugly fact and an ugly problem.

There’s a remodeling/hammer joke somewhere in nugget #10.  But, for Lent, we’ve given up senseless satirical attacks on the unsuspecting.

No, we haven’t.

There Is No Equal Reaction

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Should anyone dare to question Sir Issac Newton?  Newton’s third Law of Motion is “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

One has to wonder, as we tear down statues, erase history from books, and peacefully protest if this third law holds up in today’s world known as The Great Reset.

For example, Donald Trump says he only counterpunches.  That would hold up as the equal and opposite reaction to a punch.  But, alas, Trump threw two haymakers at Ron DeSantis last week with no previous provocation.  “DeSantctimonious, he said.  The few listening groaned, “here we go again.”

Yesterday Senator Fossil McConnell, as he will henceforth be known here, said that he is honored that his Republican colleagues have reelected him to lead the Senate minority.  “Our united team is full of energy and ideas.  We are going to fight Democrats’ recklessness.”

United?  Hardly.  More would vote against him if they weren’t afraid of having his PAC cut off all monies to their future campaigns.  Ask Rick Scott about united as Fossil removed him from all leadership after his challenge to be the leader.

Full of energy?  Hardly.  McConnell’s only energy is static.

Ideas?  Name one.  Just one.  They won’t pass regardless.

NPR wrote this lede for a story yesterday.   “Donald Trump, who tried to overthrow the results of the 2020 election and inspired a deadly riot at the Capitol in a desperate attempt to keep himself in power, has filed to run for president in 2024.”   NPR is taxpayer funded.  Does any of the above sound evenhanded?  There are no counterpunches or opposite reactions as the press as we once knew it is gone.

How gone?  They loved Twitter until Elon Musk took it over and promised free speech.  Now they hate Twitter, hate Tesla, and hate Elon.  You can expect a Senate-led investigation soon in an attempt to marginalize him.  For what?  Good question.  But, rest assured it is on its way.

Chuck Schumer was marginalized yesterday as the House was called in favor of the elephants.  He took that moment to spew, “We have a population that is not reproducing at the same level that it used to.  The only way we’re going to have a great future is if we welcome immigrants.. get a path to citizenship for all 11 million (illegal immigrants).

In hockey, you get checked.  In politics, people stand behind you when announcing and will clap for anything.  Anything.

Would the same or fewer people in the 50 states harm us in any way?  Don’t we whine incessantly about clean air, clean water, food insecurity(that used to be known as shortages), and increasing homelessness(that used to be known as hobos)?  Want more problems?

Does abortion(now known as women’s reproductive rights) have anything to do with our reproductive levels?  We are asking for a friend.

The White House asked for another 38 billion or so(who’s counting) for Ukraine’s defense last night. If approved that will bring the total to over $100 billion since the war that either is or isn’t a war started.  Can you turn the $38 billion into bullets, guns, and tanks immediately we ask?  The opposite reaction is likely, “of course.”  Is there a bullet, guns, and tanks superstore somewhere that we aren’t aware of?

This is right on the heels of a crypto scandal that might will need to be investigated for possible money laundering from you the taxpayer to Ukraine to FTX to the U.S. Democratic Party, but we digress.

And, lastly, San Francisco’s mayor proudly announced a new program, Guaranteed Income for Transgender People (G.I.F.T.) will provide “economically marginalized transgender people with unrestricted, monthly guaranteed income as a way to combat poverty.”

The program will prioritize for enrollment of “transgender, non-binary, gender nonconforming, and intersex people who are also Black, indigenous, or people of color (BIPOC), experiencing homelessness, living with disability and chronic illnesses, and youth and elders.”

That sounds very inclusive and all-encompassing to us.  The program provides $1200 a month for up to 18 months and will be availed to 55 people at the outset or about $1.2 million.

Have we gone a bit too far down the proverbial rabbit hole?   Where did voices of reason in leadership positions go?

The next thing you know the rabbit will qualify for homeless aid.

And to think Newton started all of this by watching an apple fall from a tree.

 

 

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-Random

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

One of our short order cooks(staffers) decided to take an unannounced 7 day trip to Florida last week.  Regrettably, this left us short-handed, and BBR went dark for the week.

However, our chef is back.  And in short order we’ve got some ready-to-consume nuggets below.  They’re filled with facts, opinions, and some spicy satire sauce as you like them.

  1.  Having not flown in a quick three years, we learned quickly when we did that some things don’t change.  Does the TSA work for the government, or do they work for us?  The correct answer is us.  We are the government.  We pay them to work for us.  Rude, indifferent, commanding, demanding, disorganized, and sloppy are words that come to mind to describe the power-tripping men and women in the blue unis.  It’s a thankless job and because of how they perform it no one will say thanks.
  2. It’s a special treat to hear one of them barking to the minions waiting in line the commands about what to do and not do.  They are hard to understand to begin with, but the monotone delivery is even less effective from behind one of those temporary light blue masks. There are so many ways to more effectively communicate than this rabbit hole that we’ve jumped down for the last 20 years.
  3. Did you know that the legislative branch of our federal government is the only branch that creates federal law?  It is.  And, it hasn’t made wearing a mask in airports nor on airplanes a law.  Good sheep we are as we are herded on and off the aluminum tubes.  “Be sure to put your mask back in place between bites and sips” might be the dumbest utterance on a plane ever.  And, that’s saying something.  The “mandate” is extended and in place till 4/18, and no one knows why.
  4. By 4/18 we likely will have scared ourselves back into the covid corner again.  The subvariant omicron BA.2 has been classified as a “variant of concern” according to the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).  It’s either more or less transmissible than the last one, going to get you more or less ill as the booster does or does not help.  The CDC will let you know what it thinks after the wave has passed and they’ve followed the science.
  5. That’s the same CDC that says now that it accidentally inflated children’s COVID death numbers in “coding logic error.”  Terrible!  Maybe it wasn’t a coding logic error, but an error in logic to make you want to jab your child?  The UK will be ready for BA.2.  Around 5 million people are eligible for an additional COVID jab in England, with fifth jabs hinted at as Britain rolls out its ‘Spring Booster’ campaign.
  6. UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid is not the first government official to hint at the possibility of a fourth and a fifth vaccination(that’s not a vaccination), however.  The good doctor Anthony Fauci said this past weekend, “We may need to boost again. That’s entirely conceivable. But before we make that decision about another boost, we want to determine clearly what the durability of protection is of that regular boost, that third shot that we’re talking about.”  Third, fourth, fifth.  Who’s counting?  The WHO is counting.  So is Pfizer’s CFO.
  7. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) said Monday on MSNBC that at the Senate hearing today for Supreme Court nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson, he “felt the emotion flowing through me from ancestors and generations that made this day possible.”  And, that sounds good.  He then went on to say, “Biden said it’s about time we reach deep into the well of quality and genius and talent and create credentials for black women and show she’s like Jackie Robinson, except probably overqualified.”  Did Cory Booker ever crack a history book?  Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas are curious.
  8. When 81 million of us voted for student loan forgiveness did we realize that we also were voting for $6/gallon of gas and WWIII?
  9. What are we doing foreign policy-wise with Ukraine anyway?  The country was and is corrupt.  They’re non-NATO.  Why do we have to stick our nose in every global dust-up?  Russia is wrong to attack a sovereign nation.  We told them as much.  We’ve sanctioned them.  We’ve frozen assets.  Enough.  We don’t need to send money or planes and certainly not troops.  Send us some of the Ukrainian refugees and we’ll look after them with free food, blankets, medicine, and masks, plenty of masks.  And, as a reminder that’s free to them, money to you.
  10. Like airplanes, time flies when you’re having this much fun.  If you don’t take our word for it at least take VP Kamala Harris’ word for it.  She spoke to the passage of time four times in 30 seconds yesterday.  Click on the link, open the video, and lose thirty seconds of your life that you’ll never get back. Say what? Harris has had a difficult time retaining employees in her communications department. At the beginning of 2022, her communications team was undergoing a second political reset before she had served even one year in office, the Washington Post reported.   Say what?

Ten Piece Nuggets-Random.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

You want them, we have them.  Ten delivered to your virtual door this AM.

  1.  Paging Dr. Anthony Fauci.  Dr. Fauci, please call your exchange.  Wouldn’t right now be a great time for a thorough review of the data (comorbidities, race, age, gender, vaxxed v not, etc.) that led to the science?  With covid either paused or past, it sure would.  Questions we have a few.  We’d like to know more about that science we followed.
  2. Paging NY Mayor Eric Adams.  Mr. Adams, please call your exchange.  How does Kyrie Irving get to sit in the stands maskless but can’t play in his NBA game for the hometown Nets yesterday?  It must be that elusive data that led to the science.  Kevin Durant differs.  “It’s ridiculous,” Durant said of Irving’s situation. “I don’t get it. It just feels like at this point now somebody’s trying to make a statement or a point to flex their authority.”  Durant is quite accurate shooting from three-point land and calling out fantasy land.
  3. And how about flying?  The federal mask mandate that was supposed to end on 3/18 has been pushed back to 4/18.  Why? Maybe the WH press secretary knows? When asked why airports and airlines should maintain mask mandates even if the cities in which they’re located have abandoned them, White House press secretary Jen Psaki answered that air travelers aren’t “static,” meaning lacking in movement.  Ah.  Sounds like a bunch of static, meaning crackling or hissing noises on a telecommunications system, if you ask us.  The only one lacking in movement is the CDC, behind the curve like it’s been for two years.
  4. Speaking of the CDC, this year’s flu shot hit your arm but missed the mark in prevention.  When you guess strains nine months out, you win some and you lose some.  A CDC spokesperson over the weekend opined that the shot might have lessened the severity of this year’s flu if you got it, but wasn’t sure if it did.  Does any of this sound familiar?
  5.  Saturday, March 12 was Detransition Awareness Day.  People who quit the trans ideology recognize that they cannot “transition” to the opposite sex, and so they “detransition” from the ideology.  This comes smack in the middle of Women’s History Month which might confuse just about everybody involved we suppose.
  6.  Doesn’t it seem like every time you hear that Ukraine and Russia are entering talks another city is bombed?  Putin isn’t at peace when he hears the words “ceasefire.”  And about these biological labs?   
  7. Jen Psaki proudly announced from her pulpit Friday that we are wrecking the Russian economy.  One wise guy on Twitter stated the opinion, ” That’s two economies wrecked in 12 months.”   Short.  True.  Brilliant.  Sad.
  8. Republicans from sea to shining sea are ripe with optimism that a red wave is coming to both houses of Congress this fall.  Then Mitch Mcconnell threw water on the party.  He stated last week that if the GOP regains control of the Senate that he would be the majority leader all over again.  Two things.  One, McConnell isn’t a leader.  Two, a wise man wrote us and said that every Republican running for Senate this fall should have to go on record if they would vote for McConnell if they gained office.
  9. What’s to celebrate if it’s more of the same?  The number one problem facing Republicans is that they fail to realize that their party isn’t any happier with most of them and their actions as they are with the Dems.  Sad state of affairs.

  10. And finally, Jussie Smollett’s sister, actress Jurnee Smollett, is calling for Cook County to “#FreeJussie” following her brother’s sentencing of 150 days of incarceration on Thursday, telling her followers they should advocate for his release because of disparate incarceration between black and white Americans even if they believe he is guilty.  Jurnee is quite a trip, almost like a journey.

  11. Lagniappe.  Isn’t it odd that the inflation we once called transitory is now blamed on Putin?  Point the finger at Russia, Russia, Russia.  People always buy it.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 If you’re on Spring Break enjoy.  If you’re not, get to work.  And remember today, 3/14, is pi day.  That’s roughly 3.14159265359 if you’re counting.

     

     

The Sky Is Falling

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Know why Chicken Little crossed the road?

We’ll give you a hint.  It’s the same reason why John Kerry flew to Houston this week and spewed out all of those carbon emissions behind his plane.

It was to tell the uninformed that “the sky is falling, the sky is falling!”

President Biden’s climate czar, John Kerry, said that while the Ukraine refugee crisis is a “problem” amid Russia’s invasion, it pales in comparison to the wave of migration that will come if climate change is not addressed.

“We’re already seeing climate refugees around the world,” he said. “If you think migration has been a problem in Europe in the Syrian War or even from what we see now, wait until you see 100 million people for whom the entire food production capacity has collapsed.”  Climate refugees, who knew?  See the sky really is falling.

And as fictional character Carrie Bradshaw on Sex and the City would say, “and just like that” the great reset has revved up its political engines.

President Biden told reporters Tuesday that he “can’t do much” about rising gas prices and blamed the situation on Russia’s war against Ukraine.  But, what we can do is send out the machine that the Democratic Party is and preach climate change.

Wise politicians always say, “you never want to let a crisis go to waste.”  And, unlike the Republicans, the Democrats all come to roost behind a common cause like the wise owls that they are.

Never mind Afghanistan, worthless boosters, late covid tests, the stock market, Ukraine, China, and rampant overall inflation.   Change the national narrative.

Specifically, do you want to fix the gas price problem?  Go green.  Now.

With Kerry running point for Biden, Jen Psaki said yesterday about drilling permits, “what additional permits do they need?  I don’t think that they need an embroidered invitation to drill.”    Does that sound smug or dismissive?  There are 4600 permits to drill pending approval on Biden’s desk as of this AM.  Tick tock.

We could ask Saudi to help, but they won’t answer Biden’s calls.  How about Venezuela?  They’re as bad as they come to humankind but never mind that.  Why would we help increase domestic production a day after cutting off Russia?

Maybe if we all just don’t drive for two weeks straight we could flatten the gas demand curve.  Follow the science.  Like wearing worthless masks what a fracking mess this is.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was ripped by critics Monday after he argued that more Americans should purchase electric vehicles so that they “never have to worry about gas prices again.”

The former South Bend, IN mayor claimed on MSNBC’s “Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart” that families who own electric vehicles would see a “$12,500 discount” in transportation costs.

Conversely, AAA has estimated that owning a new, compact electric vehicle costs about $600 more per year than a gas-powered compact vehicle despite lower fuel and maintenance costs.  Never let facts get in the way of a good narrative.  And, this estimate is given with the full knowledge that electricity prices would likely climb significantly as demand soars.  Never let, well, never mind.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed giving state residents some relief in the form of a tax rebate, as rising energy costs have led to the Golden State having the highest gas prices in the nation.  How nice an idea is that?  At an average of $5.75 per gallon in Cali the good governor might give you back some of which you shouldn’t need to pay in the first place.

But, he too is against increasing that nasty domestic production.  “At a time when we’ve been heating and burning up, one thing we cannot do is repeat the mistakes of the past by embracing polluters, drilling even more oil, which only leads to even more extreme weather, more extreme drought, and more wildfire,” Newsom said.  Drilling leads to extreme weather.  Again, follow the science.

But the coup de grace was delivered by US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm yesterday in Houston with Czar Kerry at CERAweek (the global energy conference) yesterday.  She said, “we are on the cusp of the most important transition that human society has ever seen.  And, I hope that we’ll look back on 2022 as the year that the world took giant steps to improve energy security and tackle climate change.”

Fourteen months ago America was producing more gas than it consumed.  MORE!

We had all of the security we needed.  It was called energy independence.

But, that was so 2020.  And, now the script is flipped.  And the party in power can follow a script like no other.

 

 

 

 

Tourniquets No, Transfusions Yes.

Posted on 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.

Our 29th President, Warren G. Harding

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.

 

 

 

 

 

Russia, China, GoFundMe, and Spotify

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

You only have two eyeballs.  If you’re looking globally at the Russia/Ukraine border buildup with one and the Communist China Oppression and Olympics with the other you might be missing something.

Big Tech has entered(yet again) into its own global border buildup and oppressive tactics.  And, when you consider the long-term consequences the stakes might be higher than Russia and China combined.

Let’s start with GoFundMe.com.  Apparently, the fundraising website has applied to the FCC for a name change and a new domain address.  It’s called Go F@#$ Yourself.com.  They really haven’t applied but the newly suggested name would be quite apropos.

Surely you’ve heard by now that a GoFundMe fundraiser for the Canadian Freedom Convoy that crossed over 10 million dollars was closed down by GoFundMe. Then they announced that instead of the money going to the truckers protesting the vax mandate, they would “redirect” the donations to “credible and established charities” verified by GoFundMe.

The justification offered by GoFundMe was that it had turned into an occupation.  They went on to say that there were “police reports of violence and other unlawful activity.” Both are against GoFundMe regulations to conduct a fundraiser.

This is the same platform that allowed and even gave its backing to fund the lovely new residential (tents) development in 2020 in downtown Seattle called CHOP (Capital Hill Occupied Protests).  If you want to talk occupation, how about cordoning off six square blocks in the middle of downtown?  If you want to talk violence, the mostly peaceful community was closed down three weeks after it broke ground after numerous 911 calls for burglaries, rapes, four shootings with two of them being homicides.  Thirty new neighbors and its “civic” leader in all were arrested.

Six states, all red by the way, had aggressive Attorney Generals who filed or threatened to file suit alleging “fraud and theft” by GoFundMe of the promised money.  It should be downright scary to all that we’ve gotten to this spot.

And, then there is the Spotify/Joe Rogan arm wrestle.  Former hippy musicians like Neil Young have taken their music off of the platform that gives the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast a platform that over 11 million people tune in to regularly.  Once upon a time, hippies sang for freedom from government intervention, now they apparently embrace it, but we digress.

First, it was “misinformation” as the culprit as Rogan brought one or two docs on that told us the entire approach to the pandemic was upside down.  How dare they exhibit their right to free speech?

Cancel Joe Rogan for this misinformation (misinformation is slang for “I don’t agree with you”)! How dare he ask questions that allowed the docs to step outside of the test or vax lines?

Shouldn’t we revoke the docs’ licenses to practice while we are at it? Nah, they’re not the real threat.  Rogan’s common sense and growing listenership are.

But the campaign to cancel doesn’t stop there.  Now it’s “Joe Rogan is a racist!”  He used the dreaded “n-word” a time or two too many in previous podcasts, the context of which is apparently immaterial.

Do all of these cries of misinformation and racism sound like a Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash, Failure, or Nils Lofgren song that’s old and tired?  They left Spotify, too.

Barbara Streisand even threatened to do so as well.  Woah, scary, or not.  If you’re Spotify, what to do?  What to do?

So far Joe Rogan apologized for what we aren’t sure about.   And Spotify has now quietly deleted over 110 of his older podcasts and we aren’t sure why.  You can’t be half pregnant and you can’t have some free speech.

Whoppi apologized last week and two weeks from now all will go on as usual.  Rogan and Spotify should easily be able to do the same, but it won’t be easy.

GoFundMe should be ostracized to the point of going out of business, but it won’t.

Hey, did you hear that Putin has more tanks headed to the Ukraine border?

Who just won gold in the women’s downhill skiing?