In Case You Missed It (v23)

I don't know about you, but I was more than ready for this week to be over.  It wasn't my best writing week, and I had a day and a half or so worth of technical difficulties, but in the end, everything worked out OK - like it always does. 

Here's the week in review, in case you missed anything.

The Sunday School classrooms were rocking with four of the Dem candidates making appearances, some of them in multiple classrooms. Mayor Pete, That Guy from Vermont (TGFV), Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren - four of the five top-tier candidates - made it to the post. Here's Papa Joe on TGFV:

... Look, if I don't get the nomination and Bernie gets it, I'm going to work like hell for him. But I'll tell you what, it's a bigger uphill climb running as a senator or a congressperson or a governor on a ticket that calls itself a democratic socialist ticket.

I'd love to hear what you think about that.

I couldn't help myself and had to dish up some poetry, after watching and reading the transcript of the president's insane remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast and then, in what became OrangeVerse XLVIII: It's Always Festivus, his 'victory lap' comments later the same day. There was more than would fit in a single post. I'll have the rest coming up next week.

Thank You for Being a Friend (I)

I want to start by thanking some of - 

and I call them friends

because, you know, 

you develop friendships
 and relationships

when you're in battle
and war, 

much more so than 

"Gee, let's have a normal situation."

This week's Wondering on Wednesday actually didn't get published until Thursday, for which I apologize - but that's still faster than the Iowa caucus results were released. My wondering was mostly about the New Hampshire primary, including things like voter turnout.

So, let's wonder a bit about what happened on Tuesday. A new record was set, we learn from the NY Times, with nearly 300,000 people voting in the Democratic primary, almost 50K more than voted in 2016 when TGFV beat Hillary Clinton by about 57,000 votes, and a few thousand more than turned out in 2008 when Clinton beat Barack Obama by 8,000 votes.  Pretty exciting right?  

For the Email of the Week, I had a few contenders; between the debate last Friday, the primary on Tuesday, all of the regular fundraising, and some changes in the slate of remaining candidates, it was a busy week. In the end? One who left the race left a mark with his email message. If you've been paying attention, you'll know immediately who sent this.

My goal when I first started was always to solve the problems that got Donald Trump elected. And I know in order to do that, I will support whoever is the Democratic nominee. That said, I hope this campaign can be a message, and word of caution, to all of my Democratic colleagues.

Donald Trump is not the cause of all of our problems. He is a symptom. We must cure the disease that got him elected, and in order to do that we must address the real problems that affect our people and offer solutions to actually solve them.

And this being the week it was, our TGIF post was chock full of list-makers, from DC to NY to Houston. That's right - Houston, by way of Toronto, Japan, and LA.

...I'll end with news that Mike Bolsinger, a relief pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays, is suing the Houston Astros for damages and to have their $30M+ in bonuses donated to charities for kids and for retired major leaguers.

Interesting stuff, that last one - and a nice change of pace for the pastiche.

See you tomorrow for Sunday School.