In Case You Missed It (v24)

A busy week here at the pastiche.  If you missed anything, I've got you covered.

We started out the week with Sunday School classrooms jam packed with presidential candidates.  Joe Biden, Amy Klobuchar, Tom Steyer and Pete Buttigieg were making the rounds this morning, with Klobuchar hitting four classrooms and Steyer two.  Papa Joe hadn't been around in a few weeks, it seemed, but he was happy to open up with Chuck Todd. 

On his campaign and whether he's got the urgency, the fire that people want to see, he said maybe being so polite and positive wasn't the best approach after all, but he supported his moderate proposals by saying if he gets elected he'll be "one of the most progressive administrations" in the country's history.

We moved into back-to-back poetry readings. That's right: we had an OrangeVerse entry that was all about presidential pride, including a tip of the hat to his own dreadful remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast. But before that part, we had this.

Transcribe This...

Fortunately for all of us

here today and for our country

we had transcripts.

We had transcribers

professional transcribers. 

Then they said Oh, well, maybe

the transcription is not correct.

But Lt Colonel Vindman and his twin

brother - right? - we had some people 

that - really amazing.

In the second OrangeVerse,

we're well into his remarks in this part, and finally he starts talking about people other than himself - and that got me thinking about that old childhood game. You know the one, where you call out for people to come on over?

Red Rover, Red Rover...

But we have some of

the folks that are going to be leaving

right after this, and they work hard - 

and they did work hard. 

Well, we got Grassley, and Nadler, and Lee, and Romney (or maybe it was Trump himself) and more. And he's still talking...

Then it was Wednesday, and time for our weekly Wondering. Among other things, we learned that

...since January 20, 2017, the day Trump officially declared his intent to run for re-election, his campaign has put $1.9 million of donor money into the president’s private business.

After an itemization of most of that nearly $2,000,000, I had some wondering, for sure:

I don't know about you, but I have to wonder a couple of things: first of all, is there NO non-Trump-enriching space available? And second, is there any wondering why the FEC isn't up to full strength?

And one more - do the folks who are spending all of their money on Trump properties (the same as they did back in 2015 and 2016) do this on their own, or because they know if they didn't, they'd be out of a job?

After Wednesday's debate, I had to do what the real pundit do and declare some winners and losers. I agreed with some of the experts on some things, but not with all of them and definitely not on everything.  And, because I can, I updated how I did with my chosen keywords for the obligatory debate drinking game.

Finally, here are the keywords (from yesterday's post) for my debate drinking game that scored me a beverage: delegates; Super Tuesday; South Carolina; people of color; Nevada Culinary Union; stop and frisk; Elizabeth Warren. (I admit I took some liberties with that last one, scoring three times when other candidates at least said her first name. Which, as noted above, is more than some pollsters bothered to do.)

The debate post (honestly, the post, not the drinking game) slowed my progress on our candidate Email of the Week.

Rather than leaving you hanging, here's how things shook up, with an extra day for them to get their points across. Mayor Pete continues to lead the pack in sheer volume - that's been a trend for quite a while.

And then, almost as if by magic, it was TGIF time. I talked a little about whiny people, and billionaires (and one who is both whiny and a billionaire).

And speaking of that other whiner, and speaking of doing it better, you can say lots of things about Mike Bloomberg and his campaign to beat the whiner, but be sure to say he's got the best darned ads. 

Honestly, you need to see the ads...

And earlier today, I shared some of the history I found on endorsements given - or not given - by the Nevada Culinary Workers Union.  Here's a hint: they didn't make an endorsement in 2016, either.  Which means, one union worker said, that people are on their own.

Caucus results are coming in, and with a mere 3% of the vote counted, Sanders is leading the pack. In the end, we may never know why people are voting the way they are.

The best we might hope for is that the results will be known, with confidence, before midnight.

And now, a couple of hours later, it looks like my hope about getting the results will be realized. The race has been called already, and it's not close.

So, there you have it: this week's veritable pastiche. Don't forget, you can drop your email in the Instant Gratification box on the right sidebar and never miss a thing.

See you tomorrow for Sunday School.