In Case You Missed It (v28)

I confess, it was a VERY slow week here, not in the mood to do a  lot of writing, especially since I was doing so much yelling at the White House COVID-19 press briefings, which were alternately ridiculous, bizarre, caustic, embarrassing, and more - and were 1000% not in accordance with the social distancing guidelines, but hey, what does it matter when our 'leaders' don't lead and don't care?

Anyway - all that aside, here's last week in review. 

Sunday School brought us conversations with Tony Fauci, a couple of governors, and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, speaking with Jonathan Karl on This Week. Mnuchin did his darndest to try and explain what the heck it is that president Trump is trying to accomplish when he talks to us. You know, like when he focuses on the stock market. It's because, he said,

"it's just one indication of the economy that gives people confidence."

Right -- the stock market is giving people confidence... And when Karl asked about Trump's awful address to the nation, full of false statements and outright panic-inducing stuff, and how the markets responded badly to it, here's what Mnuchin had to say.

Well, let me just first comment on your reaction to the stock market. Because the stock market is going to go up; it's going to go down. We can't focus on, every day, the move.

Yep. It is. But it's just one indication of the economy that gives people confidence, remember? Sigh.  

Our Sunday School Extra Credit post last week was all about the two-man debate which happened Sunday night. As usual, the pundits tried to pick winners and losers. There was quite a bit of consensus that Joe Biden was the better of the two candidates; for example, here's what the WaPo had to say.

Papa Joe: TGFV spent a lot of time on things Papa Joe did years ago that, but Biden stayed focused, pointing out repeatedly that he "got things done" and he questioned the whole revolution thing. The lack of an audience likely hurt TGFV, they said, and Biden "drove home the point" that he'd be a "steady, pragmatic hand."

Other winners?

the women who might be Biden's veep, including former challengers Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, and Amy Klobuchar, and Stacey Abrams, who served in the House of Representatives in Georgia and most recently lost the gubernatorial race, in 1918. Biden, as you probably heard, promised he'd put a woman on the ticket.  (Chris Cillizza, CNN)

And there were losers, too.

TGFV on the coronavirus: they faulted him for his always falling back on his whole economic message, something he also did in the '16 campaign, and last night he did it again. When talking about the coronavirus pandemic, Medicare-for-All was his answer. As noted above, Biden scored on that point, and also when he said that coronavirus "has nothing to do with the legitimate concern about income inequality in our country." (WaPo)

The final post of last week was the 200th edition of Wondering on Wednesday  - and there was a lot of wondering on the coronavirus stuff. For example, did you know that the president's private club had remained opened, even though several guests had tested positive? Yep - that's true. But, fear not.

Mar-a-Lago will FINALLY close, after being a hot spot of sorts with several positive tests for the virus among attendees of various events. Here's a note about this from the Palm Beach Post.

...Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach has notified members it will close its restaurant and spa and cancel aerobics classes starting Thursday in response to health concerns related to the coronavirus outbreak.

I wonder if he decided to close now because he thought it was a pandemic a long time ago?  Or because he thinks it would be poor form to keep it open while he's telling the rest of us to stay home? Although, I must add, many Florida beaches are still open for spring break, so maybe he's just keeping up with the Joneses.

There was also some good news from the NBA, with many players stepping up to help out during these difficult economic times for folks who are not working because the league is not playing.  

 As we learn in this CBS Sports article, a number of the guys have stepped up to assist others in need. One of them is New Orleans Pelicans rookie Zion Williamson, a 19-year-old kid, who is paying the salaries of all the folks who work at the Smoothie King Arena for 30 days.

The young are going to save us, we keep hearing from Dr. Birks at the White House press conferences. It may not be the ones who went to spring break as if there was nothing going on in the world, but it might just be the likes of Zion Williamson...

So, there you have it -- the sum of the veritable pastiche that made it into production last week. I'll be back with this week's Sunday School a little later.