The #1 hoops team in the country lost – to Evansville

UncleScoopy

Wait! The University of Evansville is a real thing? I thought it was one of those fake schools they make up for movies, like Faber College. (“Knowledge is Good.”)

To add to the shock value, Kentucky lost that game at home!

Evansville was a 25-point underdog, making the result the third-largest upset in the past 15 seasons.

Great pictures of a flooded Venice

UncleScoopy

Venice, one of the world’s unique treasures, is in deep … er … water.

The mayor says severe flooding in Venice that has left much of the Italian city under water is a direct result of climate change. He’s a mayor, not a scientist, so he’s just venting – but he’s may well be right. One thing is certain – rising water levels across the planet are not going to be positive for Venice.

Pete Davidson – usual shenanigans

UncleScoopy

He was recently dating Kate Beckinsale, and now he’s dating a high school girl who is younger than Beckinsale’s daughter. (The high school part is literally true. Kaia Gerber is a student at Malibu High.)

Pete was engaged to Ariana Grande, who might be five feel tall if she stands on her toes, and he’s now dating Kaia Gerber, who is taller than six feet in heels.

One thing about Pete – he does not have a “type.”

Mayor Pete is the new front-runner in Iowa. Kamala is Kaput

UncleScoopy

Biden is second in Iowa, Warren a close third. Bernie is in fourth, but a bit behind the others.

Buttigieg has really broken out of the pack. In the two previous Monmouth polls, his support level was 8% and 9%. That has risen to 22%. Buttigieg’s gains since the summer have come across the board, with increasing support coming from nearly every demographic group.

The change from the last Monmouth poll:

Buttigieg +14
Sanders +4
Warren -2
Biden -7
Harris -8

The more Iowans see of Pete, the more they like him.

The opposite is true of Kamala Harris, whose approval has plummeted in the state, and who is alive only because she has not yet admitted death. She was beating both Buttigieg and Sanders in the previous Monmouth poll, and despite having gone “all in” on Iowa, is now behind Amy Klobuchar in the battle for fifth place. (In Monmouth’s summer poll, she was beating Klobuchar 11-3.)

I can see why Bloomberg decided to skip this state. Iowa’s Democrats hate the guy. His net favorable rating in the state is minus 31 (17% favorable, 48 unfavorable), as compared to plus 63 for Pete (73% positive, only 10 negative).

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Buttigieg is also proving formidable in New Hampshire. In the latest poll, he is only a point behind Warren and is a point higher than Bernie. (MoE is 3.8).

One of the most interesting results in New Hampshire is the polling of voters who consider themselves “somewhat liberal” – it is a 4-way tie. I don’t mean a statistical tie, but rather an exact tie. All four of the leaders are preferred by exactly 21% of those polled. The candidates’ ability to sway this bloc could prove to be the deciding factor in the state, as the conservatives shun Sanders and Warren, while the “very liberal” group is strongly coalescing behind Warren.

Like Iowans, New Hampshire Democrats also dislike Bloomberg. This is obviously not the year for New York mayors to shine.

Kamala Harris is even in a worse position in New Hampshire than her current predicament in Iowa. She’s currently polling at 1% in the Granite State, a particularly distressing result when you factor in that 2% of New Hampshire’s eligibles say they will probably vote for Bloomberg in the primary.

So half of Bloomberg – that’s like 2’6″, right?

The ultimate St. Paddy’s day pub crawl

UncleScoopy

Dublin? New York? Chicago?

Kid’s stuff.

How about North Korea?

“Although the Foreign Office advises against visiting North Korea, in March 2020, Cambridgeshire-based Smiling Grape Adventure Tours will be taking guests to Pyongyang for a St Patrick’s Day pub crawl, after Kim Jong-un gave permission for the celebration.”

And you’ll party until the bars close – which is at nightfall, because they have no electricity.

Yes, you and your friends will drink the town dry – but don’t bring too many friends, because they only have two cases of beer. (It’s just as well, because they’re all at room temperature anyway.)