TGIF 3/23/18

Around these parts, we're especially glad it's Friday, as our hometown cardiac kids, the Syracuse University Orange, are playing tonight in the NCAA's Sweet Sixteen!

Last team to get into the tournament, three upsets in a row, close games against high-scoring teams which all either had really, really bad nights or had a really, really hard time with our deadly Boeheim zone defense, which is, according to fans and experts alike, nothing at all like a standard 2-3 zone.

But that's just the first reason we're in TGIF mode.

I was laughing today, trying to follow the president's tweets about how happy he was with the spending bill, that he'd sign it, that he was unhappy and wouldn't sign it, and how happy he was to have a signing ceremony, and in the end, how he signed it anyway. Not that there was ever a chance that he'd really veto the measure -- that would not make for a happy Friday, would it? I mean, Trump taking credit for shutting down the government? Not on your life!

I'll have an OrangeVerse post for you with his full remarks tomorrow, but here's just one piece of it.

But I say to Congress: I will never sign another bill like this again. I'm not going to do it again. Nobody read it. It's only hours old. Some people don't even know what's in it - $1.3 trillion - it's the second largest ever. President Obama signed one that was actually larger, which I'm sure he wasn't too happy with either. 

Probably made President Obama's day with that comment, don't you think? And Nancy Pelosi's day, too? Talk about TGIF!

Tomorrow's #MarchforOurLives is another reason to be in a TGIF mood. I know, I know -- they're too young, they don't know what they're talking about, they don't have any experience, and my favorite, they should be nice to people instead of marching and protesting and all that. But the truth is, in order: they're not, they do, they have the worst possible kind, and they are. Lots of people disagree with their message, but their participation, and their effort and their working to make a difference should be recognized and celebrated.

Finally, tonight, I'll close with this delightful comment from Dr. Ben Carson, the fish-out-of-water HUD Secretary who has been all over the map on the $31,000 dining set that was ordered by "career staffers in charge of the building" - except that it wasn't. Seems Mrs. Dr. Carson was very much involved, and Mrs. Dr. Carlson was very much thrown under the bus by her husband. In testimony before a Congressional committee investigating the debacle, which came to light when a complaint was filed by a staffer unhappy about the way-over-the-limit spending.

I left it with my wife. The next thing that I, quite frankly, heard about it was that this $31,000 table had been bought.

The Secretary cancelled the order after it was brought to his attention (by the media, not by anyone at HUD) and presumably is now trying to make amends with his wife. You can watch his statement here.

TGIF, everyone and Let's Go, Orange!