Trial Balloon

The story doesn’t end when the air went pssst from the Chinese Spy Balloon(CSB) late Saturday afternoon.  The story behind the story is really the story.  And, it has just begun.

Journalism 101 teaches that four questions must be answered along the way.  Who?  What?  When?  Where?  It also teaches us that two other questions should be answered as well.  Why?  How?

The American public has few answers.  The American public still has many questions.

First, we pose some serious ones.

Why wasn’t the CSB shot out of the air as it first entered American air space?  Was it for the safety of those below due to the debris field?  The balloon traversed over Alaska first. It doesn’t get much more uninhabited than for long empty stretches of Alaska.

When did American intelligence first know about it?  If it was launched from China’s mainland as was floated(pardon the pun) yesterday then was it close to two weeks ago?

When was President Biden first informed of the CSB?  He was braggadocious telling the eager press yesterday that he “ordered” the military on Wednesday to take it out as soon as they felt it was safe.  How long did it take for him to decide?  And, why?

Would this all have been kept hush-hush until citizens in Montana spotted it and local TV ran with it?  Only Karine Jean Claude Van Damme Pepe Le Pugh Pierre knows and we’re guessing she’ll “have to circle back with us on that.”

Why was it strategically steered to avoid Russia?  This one is easy.  It would have been shot down immediately with the one bullet Putin has left from the war in Ukraine.

Why was it steered to avoid Ukraine?  This one is easy, too.  It would have been shot down immediately by Zelenskyy with one of the millions of bullets we paid for in the war with Russia.

Was the apparatus equipped with transmitting devices?   Did it capture everything it needed by the time it left the South Carolina coast yesterday?  Of course, it was.  And, of course, it did.

Why did we use a missile to obliterate the CSB?  Wouldn’t it be better if the parts weren’t smashed to smithereens and scattered over a seven-mile debris field 45 feet under salt water?

Why cancel Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s planned trip this week to China?  We blinked.  Sending him over to go face-to-face is stronger than folding your cards.

And, now a few not-so-serious ones.

Would Biden have acted sooner if he knew the balloon was unvaccinated?  Maybe he would have ordered multiple shots.  Boosters too.

Is this the first time in two years that Biden has paid any attention to inflation?

Is Border Czar VP Kamala Harris headed to China to find out the root cause of this border breach?

Did we fear that it was a modern-day Trojan Horse and thousands of Chinese soldiers with parachutes would drop out and invade?

Did the one military general who jokingly suggested that it might be a giant pinata get sent directly to diversity, inclusion, and equality training?

Did the Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, endorse the hot air balloon as clean energy travel?  Or, did he call the balloon “racist infrastructure” due to its lily-white color?

Did we even get a chance to learn what pronouns the balloon goes by before it went bye-bye?

It’s better for the mind and the soul to poke fun at this when we take seven days to poke a hole in a spy balloon.

But, seriously, how does China feel about the end result of the trial balloon it floated to test Biden’s strength and resolve?  Mission accomplished.

But, write this down.  On Tuesday, during his State of the Union address, Biden (aka the Big Guy) will take credit for his swift action and strong stance against China.  And, 200-plus members of Congress will stand, cheer, and clap fervently.

It’s all a bunch of hot air.

 

 

 

 

A House Divided

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.

 

 

 

 

Childish Questions

Leave the place better than you found it.  Pay it forward.  Our children are our future.  Our children are our most precious commodities.

You’ve heard them all at one time or another.  They all make sense.  In fact, they make plenty of sense.

What doesn’t make sense is how we’re going about it, or not going about it depending on whom you ask.

The ultimate person to ask would be the leader of our country, 80 years young President Joesph Biden.  He’d probably quickly say we are doing a fine job raising today’s youth.   Then he’d ask someone which way he is supposed to walk to get off of the stage he just walked up on, but we digress.

Still, we have questions.

Are the free flow of humans and the drugs they traffic across our southern border good for our young impressionable ones?  Synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, were involved in more than two-thirds of the overdose deaths in the year ending in March 2022. Deaths involving synthetic opioids increased by a whopping 80% over the past two years.

What did keeping kids in remote learning for over a year accomplish during the pandemic?  Ask any educational expert and they will tell you that it set back reading comprehension and retarded social skill development.

What did the mandatory masks in the classroom do for them, especially the under-5-year-old group?  Nothing.

And, just six months ago why did Biden trumpet the approval by the FDA of the vax for five and under?  Four weeks in only 2.8% of the approximately 19 million children in this age group had the free jab forced into their bloodstream.  Then the weekly rate of vaccinations plummeted.  Kudos to 97.2% of parents for seeing through this potentially harmful nonsense.

Speaking of free, nothing is free.  Does kicking the national debt of 31.5 trillion down the road help the next generation?  Uncle Joe’s appropriate response should fall somewhere between “no” and “hell no.”  Of course, he might call money spent today ” an investment in tomorrow.”  Word salad.

Joe doesn’t spend here alone by the way.  Bush, Obama, and Trump kicked the can as well as Lionel Messi kicks a soccer ball.

And what about that new craze?  You know the one.  it’s the most heinous of all.  Call it gender mutilation.  Mr. President, does anyone in their right mind think that prepubescent children know what they want to be when they grow up?

Apparently, Biden does.  Or, at least someone told him to say so.  Straight from the White House lawn yesterday he read from his notes, “We need to challenge the hundreds of callous, cynical laws introduced in the states targeting transgender children, terrifying families and criminalizing doctors who get children the care they need. We have to protect these children.”

Care?  Protect?

He even told the world that to question this life-altering moment puts you in a grouping of hate groups.  He continued with, “racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, transphobia, etc. is all “connected.”

Connected?

Joe might know better than all of us.  You’ve seen the myriad of pictures and videos where he seems physically too closely “connected.”  Handsy, some say.  Even his daughter agrees per her diary.

The worst crime of all may be robbing a child of their innocence and childhood.

Perhaps we’ve become disconnected from that reality.

 

 

 

 

In This Corner…..

The fight for control of the narrative is on.  And it’s a heavyweight bout.

Standing in one corner is Elon Musk.  His diminutive size should not be dismissed as he packs a hell of a right cross.  Or, as the left suddenly realizes it’s a hell of a cross from the right.

Maybe he’s not right, or from the right all of the time, but he is right in the middle of this Twitterverse turnabout and bobbing and weaving like a 20-year-old flyweight.

Standing in the other corner is everyone who had a free run when free speech was on the run at Twitter.  When you can throw unabated haymakers you can pretty much control the narrative.

Censoring, shadow banning, or limiting the exposure of anyone who agreed with Trump, was related to Trump, wanted to expose the Hunter Biden laptop contents, or opposed the great Dr. Fauci and his vax needles were the plans from the corner.  It’s a walkover when your opponent can’t get into the ring.

But, the counter-punching has started.  Already, the weakest from the left have left the ring.  Some of the dumbest, aka Alyssa Milano, stayed and need a standing eight count to even continue.

Many of these same folks were “moving to Canada if Trump wins.”  They didn’t of course.  If they had they would have been able to participate in the draconian approach of PM Trudeau to freedom of expression (arresting protesting truckers) and combating the pandemic (shutdowns, masks, no work, and vax and vax and boost and boost).

“My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci,” Musk wrote on his Twitter account on Sunday.  That was a quick one-two combo at Fauci’s follies and the pronoun crowd.

On Monday the WH condemned Musk after he ridiculed President Joe Biden’s close coronavirus advisor and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci on social media.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre criticized Musk’s social media remarks as “dangerous” yesterday.

“Truth resonates,” Musk added.

“These attacks, these personal attacks that we have been seeing are dangerous on Dr. Fauci and other public health officials as well, they are disgusting and they are divorced of reality,” she said during the daily briefing.

Dangerous?  Disgusting?  Really?  Tell us how.  Tell us more.

Wait, we know.  It’s dangerous and disgusting because it goes against the worn-out, beat-up, torn-down narrative.  You know it.  “Get boosted.”  “Winter of death.”  “Wear two masks.”  “Just one vax a year.”  “Just two.”  “It’s a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”

It’s borderline the dreaded “misinformation.”

When will anyone or everyone realize that we are all unvaxxed?  That’s right, follow the science.  It’s the one telling you that the vax’s efficacy lasts about two months in your body.

When will the WH, Fauci, and their cronies realize that America stopped getting jabbed about six months ago?  They said the fight is over.  They threw in the towel and the worthless masks as well.

She reminded reporters that Fauci had served under seven presidents and that Americans were “fortunate” to benefit from the “life and exceptional talent.”  “That’s what should be discussed right now, that’s what we should be thankful to him about,” she said.

Ah, yes.  Let’s give thanks for a long public service career.  Joe Biden has had a similar one.   Longevity may have nothing to do with excellence and vice versa.

Some pugilists have gotten high on the lifestyle and the money.  They’ve been hit once too many times about the cranium.  They retired too late.

Some public servants have stayed in the ring too long as well.

Meanwhile, Musk is going for the TKO.

And, it might be only round one for him.

Let’s get ready to rumble.

 

 

 

 

Time (Magazine) Passages

The news broke yesterday that Time Magazine named Volodymyr Zolensky (three y’s, three o’s, one v, and one z) as its Person of the Year 2022.

We find this news amazing on two fronts.  One, why was he even in consideration?  Two, did you know that Time Magazine still exists?

He was in consideration for the reason we asked question number two.  The magazine has to break through the voluminous daily instantaneous information streams to somehow remain relevant.

It attempts just that by being edgy/controversial every year around this time.  The nominees were Liz Cheney, Elon Musk, and the winner Volo Zole (we decided to shorten the short man’s name to save virtual trees).

Is naming Volo Zole the Person of the Year a bit of misinformation(it is hard to describe how much disdain we have for that word)?

BBR contacted Karine Jean-Pierre Claude Van Damme de Toulouse-Lautrec, the self-described first black female lesbian White House Press Secretary for comment.  We’ve gotten no call back at press time from Madame Presser.

However, she did take the time yesterday to admonish the House of Representatives and particularly the Republicans who rescinded the vaccine mandate for our nation’s military.  She almost made eye contact when she said, “Republicans in Congress have decided that they’d rather fight against the health and wellbeing of our troops than protecting them.”

Maybe, only runner-up (or third-place finisher) Elon Musk really knows if that, too, is misinformation.

The case for Volo Zole is strong in some respects though.  How he has fleeced America out of 68 billion with a proposal for 38 more billion on the table is, well, even more sleight of hand than FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried pulled off in a crypto-cryptic kind of way.

While the Republicans were ruining the military men and women, other Congressional leaders were busy doing the people’s business yesterday.  This Congress is no lame duck.

House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine(rhymes with vaccine) Waters informed a group of Democrats that she doesn’t plan to subpoena former Sam Bankman-Fried while judiciously investigating the crypto company’s collapse.  She’s hoping he’ll walk straight in and help.  Makes sense and cents as good old Sam is thought to have helped the DNC to the tune of upwards of $100 million in DNC campaign contributions in the last election cycle.

And, Dems on the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted against auditing the money we have sent to Ukraine.  They prefer blank checks as opposed to checks and balances.  And, aren’t paper checks as relevant as magazines these days?

Volo Zole has also managed to stay alive for about a year now in this intense war-no small fete even if you’re but five foot seven inches.  How?  He even poses for pictures with US congressional leaders who visit the war-torn region.  Why?  He’s also shut down dissidents(that thing that Elon calls freedom of speech) to the war in his country.  Why?

Notice that we haven’t mentioned Liz Cheney again in this busy news cycle?  Why?

She’s old news to us just like the Biden Administration thinks the Hunter Laptop info is an old news story to them.

Do you see how this misinformation thing works yet?

You’d better.  You’re running out of time much like Time Magazine.

 

Ten Piece Nuggets

Did you stress when you had to pay more for less at the grocery store?  That said, should you have eaten less this past holiday weekend?  If that, more or less, is correct we have help on the way below.  It’s ten complimentary fat-free nuggets.

  1. The U.S. Air Force and Northrop Grumman plan to unveil the latest stealth aircraft called the B-21 Raider at the company’s facility in Palmdale, California, this Friday.  The estimated cost to develop, purchase and operate 100 aircraft is estimated at $203 billion, or about $2 billion per plane.  That’s a lot for something that you can’t even see.
  2. Maybe they could nickname the B-21 Raider after the latest COVID variant which is also stealth.   You can’t see it.  With no symptoms, you don’t know it hit you either.   You test negative.  And, the government is spending billions fighting it.
  3. CNN dusted off Dr. Anthony Fauci this past weekend for some air time.  Fauci, amongst other comments, highly recommended that we all test for covid before going to our family gatherings and went on to say that we are still right in the middle of this pandemic.  He must not be listening to the ultimate voice on this health crisis- Joe Biden.   Biden declared the pandemic over two months ago.
  4. We’re disappointed that CNN didn’t ask if the good doctor thought that the World Cup matches, unlike the 2020 mostly peaceful protests, might be a super spreader event.
  5. China’s showing the matches but blurring the stands to prevent its citizens from seeing that 100k fans from all over the world in four venues a day are yelling, hugging, and shouting in close contact all the while maskless.  No deception there.  As Lebron taught us we should be sensitive to other cultures that we know little about.
  6. Dr. Fauci(81), Speaker Nancy(82), and Prez Joe(80) are a combined 243 years old.  America is 246 years old.  That’s some wealth of experience leading this country.
  7. Turning to crime in Gotham City, there is a NYC bill being seriously considered by city lawmakers that would strip landlords of the ability to perform criminal background checks on prospective tenants.  The legislation is known as the “Fair Chance Housing Act.”  Mayor Eric Adams supports the bill saying no one should be denied housing because they were once engaged in the criminal justice system.  Even Batman is moving to Florida.
  8. Did you know that there is a position in your govt called the deputy assistant secretary of the Office of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition in the U.S. Department of Energy?  Did you know that MIT grad and “openly genderfluid” Sam Brinton holds down the post?  Did you know that 34-year-old Sam was charged with a felony last month for allegedly stealing a woman’s luggage?  At least he/she has good taste. The navy blue Vera Bradley roller bag is valued at $2400.
  9. If you wondered, gender fluidity describes the experience of changing gender identity over time. They can fluctuate between any gender at any time, such as feeling more feminine or masculine, bi-gender or agender, maverique or neutrois, and demi-gender or polygender.  Full disclosure- we took this definition directly from Wikipedia, so the information like the gender of a gender-fluid person may change at any time.
  10.  And from Cali, the WSJ  noted that under Gavin Newsom, the state saw a roughly 15 percent increase in the homeless population since 2019, despite having the most significant funding increase to fight the problem.  Throwing money to homeless people or throwing money at the homeless population isn’t the answer.  Identify and attack the root problems.

 

 

 

 

There Is No Equal Reaction

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

We all need to avoid any winter weight gain.  But, never at the expense of a serving of Ten Piece Nuggets.  Digestion begins below.

  1. We aren’t here to suggest that Kari Lake’s opponent cheated.  We have zero evidence of that at this point.  We are here to suggest that Arizona just promoted incompetence to a higher level in its government. Katie Hobbs’s department counted the votes.  And, it took seven days to count votes in the year 2022.
  2. If you want to get rid of election deniers, get an election process that works in a timely or even semi-timely manner.
  3. A close friend of BBR asked, “Why are all of the counties or states that take forever to count always won by Democrats?”  One answer to that comes in the form of a question.  Why are all of the highest crime-ridden cities and counties run by Democrats?  Some might call it incompetence and indifference that creates dependence and further bloats the government.
  4. One bit of good news is that the feared invasion of those pesky Russian bots interfering in the elections must not have occurred.  Our democracy was at stake we were told.  Or, at least using that as an excuse for losing some races wasn’t needed/used in 2022 after preelection concerns were raised.
  5. An estimated 27% of eligible voters aged 18-29 turned out to vote, compared to roughly 20% of young voters who typically participated in elections in the 1990s.  Not only did Gen Z show up in force, they overwhelmingly picked Democrats, by a 28-point margin.  And this was in a midterm, not a presidential ballot election.  Why so heavy a turnout?  Our guess is that they liked the free money handout promise of student loan debt relief and didn’t like the abortion ruling that returned the decision to the state level.  Note to Republican leadership, assuming that they have any leaders, find a way to appeal to the youngsters.
  6. That public health emergency that was set to expire in January of 2023 called Covid-19 must be still with us.  President Biden declared on 60 Minutes that “the pandemic is over” nearly two months ago.  But, Friday the President extended the emergency status through at least April 2023.  Once again the winter of death for the unvaxxed must be upon us.  Follow the science we were once or twice told.
  7.  The Biden/Fetterman 2024 ticket is trending on Twitter.  What is the duo’s early working tagline, you ask?  “It’s a no-brainer!”  Too soon?
  8.  The “I told you so’s” are out and loud railing on the cryptocurrency world.  A few years back some asked, ” why would I invest in something that doesn’t exist?”  “Ponzi scheme!” was another retort.  Who knows where this journey ends, or if it does?  But, one lesson is always worth repeating.  Don’t invest in something that you know nothing about.
  9.  Turning to sports, the Washington Commanders defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 32-21 on MNF last evening.  Hail to the Redskins Commanders! The Eagles’ loss ensures that for at least one more year no team will run through their entire schedule undefeated since the only team that ever did so in 1972-the Miami Dolphins.   Hail to the Dolphins!
  10. The latest FBS Playoff standings will be released tonight.  And the “what if” crowd will grow louder.  What if the LSU Tigers run the table?  What if THE Ohio St. Buckeyes and the Michigan Wolverines play a very close, hard-fought game and each has only one loss?  Will the committee put three SEC teams in?  As Aaron Rodgers once scolded us.  R-E-L-A-X.  These things always work their way out.  Always.

Push your chair all the way in and put your plate in the dishwasher.

 

 

Sailor’s Warning

That red wave promised yesterday morning should have been a Republican sailor’s warning.  And, while the Democrats can’t sing “blue skies, nothing but blue skies, over me” just yet, they can certainly see a silver lining in the dark clouds.

What exactly just happened?  Or, what continues to happen today as those who can’t count continue to count?

What happened was America voted.  And, despite what many polls identified as major flaws in how they were running the country, they voted for a lot of the same as what they voted for two years ago.

Does that make sense?  Of course, it doesn’t.

If you were shocked that Trump came from no political background to win it all in 2020, you had to be shocked about last night into this morning.

Here’s what we know happened, and a few guesses on why it happened.

There is no red wave.  Yes, the odds favor the House turning red by a slim margin.  And the Senate could as well by the ever so slimmest of margins.  Or, it might stay purple.  Or it might turn blue.   That is not a red wave.

Ron DeSantis sailed far and away as the biggest winner on the Republican side.  He won four years ago by the slimmest of margins for his first term as governor.  It was a blitzkrieg this time.  He motored through Miami-Dade county, a 12-point Biden win county, in the most impressive of fashions.  He has to be considered the Republican frontrunner for 2024.

Has the population growth in Florida, mostly from the northeast and accelerated by covid hysteria, come in as transplanted conservatives?

Pennsylvania can’t count.  Also, they elected John Fetterman.  Sometimes if you have nothing nice to say you should say nothing at all.

Will Beto O’Rourke and Stacey Abrams finally go away?

Beto got a veto in Texas.  He’s ‘oh for” in his last three election at-bats.  In Texas, you don’t say out loud that you’re coming for the guns.

Abrams said last night that she’ll continue to do everything she can to right all of the wrongs in Georgia.  Sounds good until the DNC money goes elsewhere.

Arizona can’t count either.  And, they have broken machines in Maricopa County supposedly.  Does anyone think to give them a test run a few months back?  No.

And, if they don’t elect Kari Lake it will be the second biggest surprise of November.  She trails 51-49 with nearly 2/3rds counted this AM.

Republican leadership, we say again, is nonexistent, old, tired, white, and selfish.  Young adults aren’t buying what they are selling.

Mitch McConnell and his PAC cronies had a game plan.  Mike Tyson said everyone has a plan until they get hit.  McConnell and the RNC got pummeled.

The polls got it all wrong again.  Like the Republican leadership, it’s past time for them to look at their flawed ways.  They didn’t get to Trump voters in 2016.  And, they likely whiffed on Gen Z in 2022.  Calling landline numbers might be past its prime.  Get a TikTok account already.

Could control of the Senate come down to Georgia again in a Senate runoff?  Herschel Walker was once a hell of a running back.  There are holes in his candidacy as big as the ones his Bulldogs used to create for him to run through though.

So where does all of this leave one Donald J. Trump?  Today it is Mar-a-Lago.  Tomorrow it’s likely in some court.  By 2024, it’s likely on stage gunning for the White House.  The Dems can’t wait.

One thing about the weather “they” say.  It’s always changing.

The forecast from here till 2024 looks tough to call.   Red wave?  Blue Sky?  One fish, two fish.

Blame it on climate change if you wish.

 

 

 

Frick and Frack

They were out in all of their glory doing what they think they do best last evening for their respective parties.  Trump and Biden.  Biden and Trump.

Donald Trump was in Ohio at a rally of his own, promising a major announcement on November 15th.  He even spent some time attacking Ohio Democratic Senate candidate Rep. Tim Ryan and boosting his GOP opponent JD Vance.

Meanwhile a few states over in Maryland, Biden headlined a last-minute get-out-the-vote rally at Bowie State University, stumping for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wes Moore.

Trump didn’t call anybody in his party a bad nickname.  Biden forgot the want to be governor’s name.

On his best behavior, as he went through poll numbers at the rally, Trump did not call Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis “Ron DeSanctimonious” as he did at a recent rally.

“And, of course, you got that next governor. What’s his name? Wes… Wes…,” Biden said, turning to the audience as they held up “Wes Moore” signs.  “Wes Moore!” Biden said after reading a sign. “The guy’s the real deal, man.”

So on midterm election eve with a possible red wave on the horizon, you had an orange face stumping for himself and an ashen face who might be singing the blues hours from now just plain stumped.

The questions are “why now” for Trump and “why” period for Biden.  Haven’t we reached a point where we can agree on one thing?  That thing is one past president and a past prime current president are both more harmful than good for their sides’ cause.

It may have been fun to label Marco Rubio “Lil Marco” six years ago. How about “low energy Jeb?” Some smart money is now on DeSantis and calling him “DeSanctimonious” doesn’t draw the laughs these days.

It may have been fun for 81 million people to bounce Trump in favor of Biden two years ago.  Today that choice will cost the left the House for sure and the Senate is at best a toss-up.

Things are bad around these 50 states, or 54 if you ask Joe.  Only an ostrich can’t see that.  DeSantis and Newsom can.

The for-sure Republican that will get a Democrat elected to the White House in 2024 is Trump.  The for-sure Democrat that insures a Republican will move in is Biden.  Kamala is a very close second, but we digress.

The RNC and the DNC have quite a job on their hands.  The former needs to convince an egomaniac that it’s in the party’s best interest that he should have no interest in running.  The latter needs to finesse a sitting president and vice president straight to the curb.

That fact will never become clear enough in Trump’s cranium for him to see it.  That fact should become clear to Biden around 10 pm tonight assuming he’s awake and cognitive enough to see it.

Americans coast to coast can see it.  Especially the smart ones.

Toward the beginning of his speech last night, Biden reminded some just how smart they were.  He told the mostly Black audience at the historically Black university that – despite them not having the endowments other schools have – they were “just as smart” and “just as bright.”  Pandering much?

See.