Orange Verse (LXIV): My Favorite Book

Happy Holy Week!

Religion and Christianity are the biggest 

things missing from 

this Country and I 

truly believe that we 

need t0 bring them 

back fast. I think 

it's one of the biggest 

problems we have that's 

why our Country's going 

haywire we've lost religion 

in our Country. All 

Americans need

 a Bible in their home 

and I have many. 

It's my favorite book. 

Buy My Bible!

It's a lot of peoples' favorite book. 

This Bible is a reminder that the 

biggest thing we have to bring 

back in America to Make America Great 

Again is our religion. 

Religion is so important, 

so missing, but it's gonna come

 back and it's gonna come back strong 

just like our Country is gonna come back strong. 

Only $59.99!

In the end we do not answer to 

bureaucrats in Washington we 

answer to God in Heaven. Christians 

are under siege. We must protect

 content that is pro-God we love God and 

we have to protect anything that is pro-God. 

We must defend God in the public square 

and not allow 

the media or 

the left-wing 

groups to silence, 

censor, or 

discriminate 

against us. 

We have to bring

 Christianity back 

into our lives 

and back 

into what will 

be again a 

Great Nation. 

Our Dads Were Cool!

Our founding fathers did a 

tremendous thing when they 

built America on Judeo-Christian 

values. Now that foundation

 is under attack perhaps

 as never before. What can 

we do Stand Up Speak Out 

and pray that God will bless 

America again. I'm proud 

to endorse and encourage 

you to get this Bible. 

We must 

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Did I Say Only $59.99?

Pray, 

get educated, 

get motivated, 

and stand with me 

and the legions 

of Americans 

asking God to 

bless our Great 

Nation and to 

bring our Great 

Nation back and 

to Make America 

Great Again.

Order Now!

 I'm proud to partner 

with Lee in this offering 

he's a very special man 

both as a talent 

but maybe even more 

so as a human 

being he's very very 

special and I

think you should all 

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Bible now and help

spread our Christian 

values with others. 

Supplies Are Limited! 

 There you have it. 

Let's Make America Pray Again 

and God bless you and 

God bless the USA.

TGIF 3/15/24

It's been a while since I've posted - life and stuff interrupting. I'm sure you all know the drill. I'm happy to get back into the swing of things, starting with today's good week/bad week lists. 

Fulton County, GA District Attorney Fani Willis, who brought the RICO case against former president Donald 'Orange Jesus' Trump, his former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and several other co-defendants, dodged a bullet when Judge Scott McAfee ruled that she can stay on the case, provided she fires her former romantic partner Nathan Wade. I never really understood why Willis was the one accused of receiving financial benefit from the pair's relationship; it seems to me Wade was the one who had a financial interest in it, with his firm earning some $650,000 from the case since he signed on.

I think Judge McAfee had a good week; he reached a reasonable conclusion here, and on his decision to dismiss, without prejudice, a handful of charges due to a lack of specificity. Importantly, he didn't mince words criticizing Willis for her insanely poor judgment. I mean, where I used to work, we trained everyone in the company from the lowest person on the totem pole to the CEO and our Board of Directors, on why a boss/employee relationship is wrong; I can't imagine she didn't intuitively know that.   

Oh - by the way, Wade resigned from the case, "in the interest of democracy, in dedication to the American public, and to move this case forward as quickly as possible."

*****     *****

The OJ and President Joe Biden officially became the presumptive nominees of their parties, each having secured enough delegates to win the nomination on the first ballot at their respective party conventions this summer. To me, that's not news, but it seems news to newspeople. who now get to say extra words when talking about the candidates. Like tens of millions of voters, I wish we had different choices. 

*****     *****

In my heart of hearts, I wish this was a fake picture, but of course, it's not. 

I mean, the guy in the middle triumphantly autographed Bibles after a tornado struck Alabama, leaving 23 people dead and thousands dealing with the aftermath. And grinned, with an upraised thumb, while Melania stood next to him holding a baby orphaned in a mass shooting. There's really no reason to be shocked at him posing, grinning as usual, with a newly-autographed poster of a murdered college student. 

What's appalling, though - in addition to her smiling family surrounding the autographing OJ, is that he spelled the victim's name wrong - on a poster telling everyone to Say Her Name. This stuff can't be made up - it really can't. 

*****     *****

President Biden gave what could have been his last State of the Union address last week. According to the official time-keeping, which starts when the President addresses the Speaker of the House, he spoke for one hour, seven minutes, and 17 seconds. If you didn't watch the speech and happened to see or hear the news more than once in the days since then, you might think the only thing he said was "She was killed by an illegal," and the only other highlight was that he didn't say the OJ's name 13 times. We are done such a disservice by the media, we really are.

*****     *****

Shockingly, former Vice President Mike Pence has announced he will not endorse the OJ - and he "will never" vote for Biden. I say 'shockingly' because Pence raised his hand when Brett Baier asked which of the GOP presidential candidates would support Trump "if he were convicted in a court of law."

TGIF, everyone.

In Case You Missed It (v118)

Four posts made it out last week - three were regular features, while the fourth was a revival of one of my favorite themes. Here's a recap of the week, which started with my Sunday School classroom visits. 

I took one for the team and paid attention to all of the GOP folks who stopped by for interviews, including Margaret Brennan's chat on Face the Nation with Sarah Huckabee Sanders, notable mostly for her time as Donald Trump's many press secretaries. 

She's currently governor of Arkansas, a job her dad also held. She and Brennan talked about abortion exceptions, maternal care, and things like that before the conversation inevitably turned to Sanders's former boss. 

When asked about Trump and Biden both being too old to be part of a new generation of leaders, Sanders talked about the candidates' records, not their ages, and to no one's surprise, thinks Trump is the better choice. As to whether Trump can unite us, she said

You know, one of the things that I think is so often left out of Donald Trump's story is the patriotism and the love of country that he brought back. We haven't seen that in this president... In fact, we've seen the total opposite. 

Brennan disagreed with several things Sanders touted as Trump's successes, including immigration, the Middle East, and Ukraine, to which Sanders responded,

Well, that's why we need him to come back for four years because he didn't get to finish, but he certainly made significant progress...

 I give her credit - at least she admitted that some of Trump's most highly-touted 'accomplishments' weren't accomplished. 

Here's an excerpt from Sen. Scott's conversation with Dana Bash (CNN's State of the Union), which was featured in your Extra Credit, which was the second post of the week. As I noted, this was considered a hugely important endorsement, ostensibly because Scott chose not to endorse Nikki Haley, the person who made him a Senator. 

Or, at least equally likely, even if no one's saying much about it, it's because he's the only Black GOP senator. Anyway, here's an excerpt for you. The colorful comment is mine.

Bash talked about Scott's "very positive, very hopeful campaign." She played a video clip of Scott asking a crowd, "Victimhood or victory? Grievance or greatness?" and said it sounded like he was talking about Trump.

No, listen, I -- we absolutely, positively, unequivocally need an America that's not filled with victims.

Trump is the victim-in-chief, for Pete's sake. So, if not Trump, who was Scott talking about? 

I'm actually talking about how Joe Biden has destroyed our economy and made victims out of people waiting for the government to show up. I'm talking about having a president who's weaponizing the DOJ against political adversaries. We need Lady Justice wearing a blindfold. I want America, every single American in every corridor of this nation to have confidence in their DOJ, not a Biden-led DOJ.

 I had quite a few colorful comments in response to his endorsement, as you might imagine. 

Next up? I was Wondering on Wednesday this week about what makes a stock market record high 'good' and what makes one 'bad," and about the damage from the Citizen's United  Supreme Court decision, which had its fourteenth anniversary last week. 

And, I wondered this about Floria Man Ron DeSantis, who suspended his very expensive presidential campaign.

I'm not surprised he dropped out of the race; many folks think he was really prepping for 2028 and a run against Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA). The two debated last November, which is when Newsom famously said, "Neither of us will be the nominee for our party in 2024." 

After DeSantis gave his half-hearted endorsement to Trump, we were told that the 'Ron DeSanctimonious' nickname was officially retired. 

I'm half-heartedly wondering if no longer having to hear the name is why DeSantis suspended his campaign - and if his donors, and their wallets, wish he had done it sooner.

I closed the week with an OrangeVerse post. Started as a more general political poetry theme during the Obama years, it grew by leaps and bounds when Trump took office in 2016, because he's constantly talking, and because his patter lends itself to free verse quite nicely. You can find previous poems by searching the keyword 'OrangeVerse' in the 'At Your Fingertips' box at the right sidebar.

Here's an excerpt from the 62nd chapter, titled Brief but Derogatory, in which the Former Guy had choice words for Nikki Haley and her financial backers.  

I can't help noticing that, as is often the case when he accuses someone of something, it's usually done by exhibiting the same behavior he's complaining about. 

No Camp for YOU!
Nikki 'Birdbrain' Haley 
is very bad
for the Republican Party
and indeed,
our 
Country.
 
Her False Statements,
Derogatory Comments, 
and Humiliating Public Loss, 
is demeaning to
True 
American 
Patriots.

As is often the case, his poetry gets stronger the longer he talks. 

And now, you're up to date. On tap this week? Our usual three (Sunday School, Extra Credit, and WoW), a Quick Take or two, and if all goes well, a report on what's happening in Albany. 

I hope you stick around.

Sunday School 1/21/24: Extra Credit

In yesterday's Sunday School, I recapped three classroom visits, all with Republican governors. 

Today, the focus is on Sen. Tim Scott's Trump endorsement. As I noted last week, most of the media is falling all over themselves over how big a deal it is. Now, you can read it for yourself. My comments are interspersed throughout the post.

Scott sat down with Dana Bash in the State of the Union classroom, where the first question was why Trump, why not Haley?

It comes right down to, what does America need for the next president? It would be four more years of Donald Trump. And why do I say that? I say that because I worked with President Trump on really important issues impacting American voters and American families. We worked together. I helped write the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, the largest tax decrease in American history.

I hope Scott remembers that many of the most impactful provisions of the bill he wrote are set to expire next year.  

Think about uniting this country. He gave the highest level of funding for historically black colleges and universities in the history of the country. We had the most inclusive economy, seven million new jobs, the lowest unemployment rates for African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, a 70-year low for women, and a 50-year low for the majority of the population,... during the Trump years.

A couple things: in some GOP circles, providing historic HBCUs funding is likely considered "woke," not a sign of unity; unemployment rates dipped even lower during Biden's term, and are fairly consistent with Trump's pre-COVID numbers; and while we know that presidents don't 'create' jobs, Biden has 'created' nearly twice as many as Trump.

We had a stronger economy, a healthy military, and a safer world. When I compare and contrast, the only, the only conclusion is Donald Trump.

Scott said he and Haley exchanged texts "several times" since he got out of the race, and he expanded upon his thinking in endorsing Trump. 

I'm not asking a question about who's from my home state. I'm not asking a question who would be -- is a good person or a better person. I think President Donald Trump is a strong president, will be a strong president again, and will have the kind of accomplishments that will unite this nation around economic opportunity.

If he's not looking for a "good person," he's found his man.

Bash talked about Scott's "a very positive, very hopeful campaign." She played a video clip of Scott asking a crowd, "Victimhood or victory? Grievance or greatness?" and said it sounded like he was talking about Trump.

No, listen, I -- we absolutely, positively, unequivocally need an America that's not filled with victims.

Trump is the victim-in-chief, for Pete's sake. So, if not Trump, who was Scott talking about? 

I'm actually talking about how Joe Biden has destroyed our economy and made victims out of people waiting for the government to show up. I'm talking about having a president who's weaponizing the DOJ against political adversaries. We need Lady Justice wearing a blindfold. I want America, every single American in every corridor of this nation to have confidence in their DOJ, not a Biden-led DOJ.

Has he not been paying attention? Has he never heard of Bill Barr? 

I want every child growing up in poverty, like I did, to have access to quality education. Unfortunately, the Democrats have sold their souls to the teachers' unions, trapping poor black kids in inner cities into failing schools and out of their best future. I want a nation where every child looks into the future and says, the American dream works for me. I was that kid.

And so when I think about bringing this country together, not under grievance, but over greatness, not being victims, but being victorious, I am talking about the future of this nation... and politicians who get in the way of that.

 Bash asked if he doesn't "see any grievance in Donald Trump's campaign for president?"

Well, here's what I can tell you. And for a person who's seen the DOJ weaponized against him, for a person who, before he was ever sworn into office, "The Washington Post" said they were going to make sure that he is a one-term president, when you look at the challenges he faced, there's no doubt that he has been aggrieved. 

I think Scott's confused; back in 2010, Sen. Mitch McConnell said “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president." Maybe that's what he remembered hearing?

The question is, what are the American voters looking for? Here's what they're looking for. They're looking for a president who represents their best future, and not his. That president is not Joe Biden. It's Donald Trump. 

I have concerns about a second Joe Biden term, as do many people I know, but I don't think Donald Trump represents anyone's best future, other than his own.

Bash then turned to Scott's belief that Trump will "restore law and order," which is interesting. She pointed to Trump's recent experiences with the law, including trying to overturn the 2020 election, promising to pardon his rioters (he calls them hostages), the stolen documents case, and his latest call for total presidential immunity, and asked how that equated to law and order. 

Well, he has a legal team that can answer the questions of the legal challenges that he faces.

Yes - including a lawyer who said presidential immunity would apply if the president ordered SEAL Team 6 to murder a political rival. That's kind of hard to ignore, I think.

But what I can tell you is that, when you look around the cities, when you grow up in poor communities, like I did, and you watch the crime ravishing your communities, you ask yourself what president has allowed that to happen. It's Joe Biden.

Bash didn't interrupt to ask, "What is the president's role in dealing with crime in cities and poor communities?" but I would have. 

When you have DAs around the country that say it's no longer a crime to steal $1,000 worth of goods, and those stores start closing in San Francisco and across the country, you ask yourself what president allowed that lawless behavior to continue. That's Joe Biden.

I'm not denying there are serious issues facing retail stores - we've seen the video, right? But again, "What is the president's role in telling elected DAs how to do their jobs?" And, "What is the president's role in making sure that businesses don't lie about crime in the press and in Congressional hearings?"  And, "What is the president's role in making sure politicians don't spread the same lies?"

You ask yourself, who can restore the kind of law and order in our nation to allow it to go forward... that would be Donald Trump.

Bash tried again, focusing on the 'hostage' language, noting Scott was at the Capitol on January 6th, jacket off, sleeves rolled up, ready to defend himself "presumably until I died."  Would he now refer to the folks facing prosecution as hostages?

I would say that every single person facing our justice system should have justice done. The facts and the evidence in each individual case matters. I have confidence that that process will play out. Here's what I said also in the book that I wrote. I talked about January the 6th, because I'm one of the few people who was actually there with the people outside; 99 percent of the people who showed up were there to exercise their First Amendment rights. What I said then is what I will say now. I don't hold those people at harm. I don't hold them responsible for the actions of a few. I do hold the few responsible, no one else.  People have to be responsible for themselves.

Bash tried two more times to get a specific agreement that 'hostages' was the wrong term, but Scott only said, "We should have confidence in restoring the blindfold to Lady Justice." I'm not sure dressing Lady Justice as a blindfold-wearing hostage helps. 

Scott was asked if he was comfortable with Trump 'birthering' Nikki Haley, as he did Barack Obama, Ted Cruz, and who knows how many others. His answer is laughable. 

Well, I'm watching rhetoric on all sides of the issues facing becoming president. What I mean by that is, the rhetoric from Joe Biden is terrible, but it is -- and it's salacious.

Salacious? Really? I must have bigly missed something! Has Biden campaigned making comments that are "arousing or appealing to sexual desire or imagination?" That sounds a whole lot more like the House GOP (remember Hunter Biden's photos?) or Trump to me.

Nikki Haley questions whether 70-year-olds should be allowed to run for president. I think there is so much negativity and toxicity in this aim to becoming president again or for the first time that we should be very clear and look at both sides of the comments made. What I can tell you, the average voter is more interested in their future and their kids than they are the comments being thrown around by political candidates.

And, whether it's the man he sold his soul to endorsed or anyone else, 

Well, I would like for all politicians to comport themselves in a way that is consistent with the highest office.

But I'm happy to endorse the rudest, meanest, most belligerent, most violent, most openly dictatorial, most impressively indicted, most unlike me candidate I could find, instead of gracefully serving out my term and spending time with my bride-to-be. 

The last word on this goes to CNN's Amanda Carpenter, who was in the classroom for the interview.

I mean, I've just got to comment a bit on how Tim Scott has closed his race. That interview he conducted with you made me really sad. It was really hard to watch. I think you rarely see a person with his reputation, as an optimistic, charismatic leader, sully it in the way that he did in that interview...

See you around campus. 

In Case You Missed It (v85)

Another week is in the books; here's a recap of last week's post, in case you missed anything.

Among the folks making the Sunday School rounds was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Where the Dead Things Are); he chatted with Dana Perino on Fox News Sunday. They talked about Ukraine, and things on the home front, and about the upcoming midterm election. 

He suggested that the Biden administration "just can't seem to get their act together on the economy," but that's only part of why "the American people are so down on the president."

The economy, the precipitous withdrawal from Afghanistan, the domestic energy issue we've already been discussing, crime, problems in public education, this administration has really got its hands full and I think they're headed toward a pretty good beating in the fall election.

And if the Rs retake the majorities in the House and Senate, all those issues will be part of the agenda, as will increasing military spending; Biden's current request "doesn't even keep up with inflation." And, McConnell said, "We've got a war going on in Ukraine." 

Some of those things he mentioned were discussed in other classrooms as well.

For your Sunday School Extra Credit, I sat in on a couple of the panel discussions, including the one on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, with Jon Karl hosting. The endorsements being handed out by the Former Guy garnered some attention, including the recent glowing recommendation of Dr. Oz for Senate in PA. Trump said that being on television is "kind of like a poll" and Oz was on for a long time, so people must like him. Rick Klein (ABC News) and Laura Barron-Lopez (Politico) chimed in on that.

After the laughter subsided, they got down to the nitty gritty: the fact that it seems Trump is endorsing "candidates that don't appear to be on track to win," including Oz. Klein says it's "totally fascinating" that Trump's putting himself on the line, and that, "in a bunch of cases, it could blow up in his face." A notable example? Trump's efforts to get rid of Georgia's governor and secretary of state.

So, this is a big moment, I think, for Donald Trump. I think the conventional wisdom about him is this kingmaker, as the biggest force in the Republican Party. It's going to be tested when you have actual Republican primary voters in a range of states, starting next month.

Barron-Lopez said none of this means he has lost his grip on the party, 

because we see Republicans, time and time again, repeating, whether it's the big lie, or repeating, you know, other claims and attempts to try to change election laws in -- in states, in order to make it so Republicans have a better edge in future elections. So that's continuing. That isn't going anywhere.

And that's pretty much the way it goes with the Former Guy, right? They need him, and they feed him, all the while not really knowing how things are going to end up.

I was Wondering on Wednesday about elections, and election security, and goofballs - and that was just this one entry.

Lauren Boebert, who represents a couple of people somewhere, I guess, wondered out loud about the recent election in France.

The socialist nation of France held elections today.

In that election there was no mail-in voting, early voting, or use of voting machines.

There was a mandatory proof of ID to vote.

Why can’t we get that basic election security here?

I wonder if she's figured out yet that we can't do here what they do there, because (a) we're not a socialist nation, (b) we don't have one set of election rules that everyone must follow, (c) we don't have automatic voter registration, and (d) she doesn't want us to be or have any of those things? 

I was grumpy on Thursday when I did this Sidebar on how we allow folks - the talking heads, for sure, but they're not the only ones - to just toss stuff out there, unchallenged, and how easy it is to find information to refute what they say. A case in point was the panel discussion on Fox News Sunday, where Brit Hume opined that the Biden administration needed to "throw open the regulatory barriers" and that would allow oil companies to increase production here in the US.

If we did that, he said, we could supply countries in Western Europe with energy to make up for what they're not going to be getting anymore from Russia. And that would "cut off the flow of Western funds into Vladimir Putin's war chest." Perino said Hume's answer "makes sense to me. We'll see if it makes sense to them going forward." 

Of course, it makes sense to Perino and Hume: if we're cutting regulations, everything will be fine, right? Well, no; what Hume's selling, the oil industry isn't buying.

Here's where it gets interesting; there's this great reporting from Freightwaves.com, which covered CERAWeek (emphasis added).

Even as Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm was using the platform of a major energy industry conference to call on the nation’s oil producers to ramp up production, what was being said during other sessions made clear that was not likely to happen. 

And there was a lot more from CERAWeek, which "has been described by the Financial times as the 'Davos of energy,' and by Politico as the "industry's Super Bowl," among other accolades - so it's not a bunch of people like me making stuff up - it's experts who disagree with what the pundits are throwing out there. And boy, I wish it would stop.

I did a total 'good week' TGIF - it seemed like something we could all use. Here's one example.

Moving on, we've got a nine-year-old fashion designer. Kaia Aragon, a third-grader, designs and sews her own clothes, after being taught to sew by her mom when she was five. You can see her designs via a link in the article; she shares them on her mom's TikTok page. 

Now, as a person who had to finish her junior high sewing project during the summer break, in order to avoid taking an incomplete, I can't even comprehend how Kaia does what she does. My project? A denim skirt, in case you were wondering. Which I'm pretty sure I never wore, but at least I finished the darn thing. In August. Ugh.

That's all I had for last week. I'll see you tomorrow for a recap of the Sunday School classrooms. 

If you're celebrating Easter, Passover, or Ramadan, I wish you the blessings of your holiday. 

If you're celebrating spring, or colored eggs, bunnies, and chocolate, or family time, or simply enjoying a quiet Sunday, I extend blessings to you as well.

OrangeVerse LX: The World According to Me

When you're a twice-impeached former president searching for relevance, you can always find willing accomplices in the media. There's your Most Favored Networks, of course and there's the always-willing ears working for other media outlets. 

You know, like the Washington Post, which published a recap of an interview just this week. 

And there's people like me, who transform those boring interviews into something much more, I don't know, literarily significant. Poetry, that is. Purely orange poetic gold, or something.

Here's the latest, from the WaPo interview, starting with his take on the attack on the Capitol.

Too Blind to See

I thought it was a shame, 

and I kept asking 

why isn’t she doing 

something about it? 

Why isn’t Nancy Pelosi 

doing something about it? 

And the mayor of DC also. 

The mayor of DC and Nancy Pelosi

 are in charge. 

I hated seeing it. 

I hated seeing it. 

And I said, it's

got to be taken care of, 

and I assumed they were

taking care of it.

Others were supposed to take care of his mess - and a bigly mess it was.

January 2017 Was Big, But...

The crowd was far bigger 

than I even thought. I believe it was the

 largest crowd I’ve ever spoken to. 

I don’t know what that means

but you see very few pictures.

They don’t want to show pictures, 

the fake news doesn’t want 

to show pictures.

But this was a 

tremendous 

crowd.

About that gap in the White House call logs, when the gals were  in charge?

Phone Calls? Who Cares?

From the standpoint of 

telephone calls, I don’t 

remember getting very 

many. Why would I care 

about  who called me? 

If congressmen were 

calling me, what 

difference did it make? 

There was nothing 

secretive about it. 

There was no secret.

Let's move on to foreign policy stuff...

People, People Thinking NATO

A lot of people 

are a little bit surprised,

I think they’re 

very impressed with Ukraine, 

but they’re not impressed

 with what NATO is doing, 

because a lot of people

 think NATO 

could be doing more.

Volodymyr, My Dear

I liked Zelenskyy 

from the beginning for 

one reason. When we

had the impeachment 

hoax, based on a perfect 

phone call, he totally backed 

me up, and I didn’t ask 

him to do that. They asked him, 

and he said, he absolutely did 

nothing wrong. He said there 

was no quid pro quo. 

He didn’t even know what 

his people were talking about. 

He thought they were crazy...

 So I gained great respect for him there.

And there was the part about the stolen election.

 

I'm the Diamond; Put Me Back

But I believe when you

 see massive election fraud, 

I can’t imagine that somebody 

who won the election based on fraud,

 that something doesn’t happen? 

How has it not happened? 

If you are a bank robber, 

or you’re a jewelry store robber,

 and you go into Tiffany’s and

 you steal their diamonds

 and get caught, 

you have to

give the 

diamonds 

back.

In what I think is a first for a former American president, Trump has expanded his reach to endorsing foreign candidates, including Hungary's Viktor Orban.

All Hail the King

After I endorsed him

he went up like

a rocket ship.

These other leaders

they want endorsements.

I'm the king of endorsements. 
It's more than just this country

It's other countries.

You'll see. 

Finally, what does he see when he looks in his crystal golf ball?

No Doubt

If I ran, 

I can’t imagine 

they’d want to run. 

Some out of loyalty would have 

had a hard time running. 

I think that most of 

those people, 

and almost every 

name you mentioned, 

is there because of me. 

In some cases, 

because I backed 

them and endorsed them. 

You know Ron was at 3 percent, 

and the day I endorsed him, 

he won the race.

As soon as I endorsed 

him, the race was over.

I have a good relationship 

with Ron, I have a good relationship 

with all the names you mentioned. 

Would they run against me? 

I doubt they would run 

against me. I doubt it.

I don't want to comment

on running, but I

think a lot of people

are going to be very

happy with my decision.

Because it's a little boring now.

Nobody likes 'boring,' do they?

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.