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Lightning Fill-In-The-Blank

PETER SAGAL, HOST:

Now it's time to move on to our final game, Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank. Each of our players will have 60 seconds in which to answer as many fill-in-the-blank questions as he or she now can - each correct answer now worth two points. Bill, can you give us the scores?

BILL KURTIS: Faith and Luke each have three. Adam has two.

SAGAL: Really? All right. Adam, you're in third place. You're up first. The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank. This week, the State Department released emails between Hillary Clinton and blank discussing using a private email server at the State Department.

ADAM FELBER: Colin Powell.

SAGAL: Yes.

SAGAL: On Thursday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau leveled a $185 million fine against blank for illegal banking practices.

FELBER: Oh, Wells Fargo.

SAGAL: Right.

SAGAL: This week, Donald Trump denied that there was anything improper about his $25,000 donation to blank's Attorney General.

FELBER: Florida.

SAGAL: Right.

SAGAL: Nerds throughout the United Federation of Planets celebrated this week as the classic sci-fi series blank celebrated its 50th anniversary.

FELBER: "Star Trek."

SAGAL: Yes.

SAGAL: This week, President Obama defended blank's right to refuse to stand during the national anthem.

FELBER: Colin Kaepernick.

SAGAL: That's how you pronounce it.

SAGAL: After a full day of shopping, a woman in Britain called 911 to report blank.

FELBER: She was out of money.

SAGAL: No, she complained that her feet hurt and she wanted an ambulance to give her a ride home.

LUKE BURBANK: They got to stop letting the queen out.

SAGAL: Yeah.

SAGAL: The 32-year-old woman told the dispatcher that her feet were burning after she had spent the entire day shopping. When the dispatcher told her that the only way they'd send an ambulance is if it was bringing her to the hospital, the woman said - and this is true - well then from there, how am I going to get home?

FELBER: It's a reasonable question.

SAGAL: It is a reasonable question. Bill, how did Adam do on our quiz?

KURTIS: He got five right, 10 more points. He has a total of 12 and the lead. Well done.

FELBER: I don't love my chances here.

SAGAL: All right.

FELBER: Oh, thank you. Thank you very much.

SAGAL: We flipped a coin. Faith has elected to go next. So here we go, Faith, you're up. Fill in the blank. On Wednesday, the Senate failed to pass a $1 billion spending bill aimed at combating blank.

FAITH SALIE: Zika.

SAGAL: Right.

SAGAL: This week, Mexico's finance secretary resigned after criticism for his part in organizing blank's visit.

SALIE: Trump's.

SAGAL: Right.

SAGAL: On Tuesday, Fox News agreed to a $20 million settlement with blank over her sexual harassment lawsuit.

SALIE: Gretchen Carlson.

SAGAL: Right.

SAGAL: Following weeks of protests by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, a federal judge temporarily halted construction on part of the blank.

SALIE: Dakota Pipeline.

SAGAL: Right.

SAGAL: On Thursday, the International Olympic Committee handed blank a 10-month ban for lying about a robbery in Rio.

SALIE: Ryan Lochte.

SAGAL: Right.

SAGAL: Despite being moved off the endangered species list this week, zoologists in China say that blanks are still at risk.

SALIE: In China.

SAGAL: In China.

SALIE: Pandas.

SAGAL: It's - right, it's the panda bear, giant panda.

SAGAL: After a 70-year-old man in Kansas was arrested for robbing a bank, he told police he did it because blank.

SALIE: He'd rather go to jail than stay with his wife.

SAGAL: That's exactly right.

SAGAL: He handed the teller a note saying, I've got a gun. Give me money. She gave him money. He took it. She went over and sat down, waited for the police. When the police showed up, he stood up and said, I'm the guy you're looking for. The man was arrested immediately and asked to be tried not by a jury of his peers but by a jury of people who knew his wife.

SAGAL: Bill, how did Faith do on our quiz? Pretty well, I think.

KURTIS: Faith's on fire. Seven right, 14 more points with the lead at 17.

SAGAL: All right, that means...

SAGAL: If I understand math, it means that Luke needs to do better. So what does he need to win?

KURTIS: Seven to tie and eight to win.

SAGAL: Tall order, Luke. Here we go.

BURBANK: There's no chance. Why don't we just skip to the end of the show, they'll add an extra This American Life promo, everybody wins?

SAGAL: Hello, I'm Ira Glass. This week, Luke humiliates himself.

SAGAL: So you don't win either way.

BURBANK: Yeah.

SAGAL: You might as well go through with it.

BURBANK: All right.

SAGAL: Here we go, Luke. This is for the game. Fill in the blank. This week, a rescue organization said that the Syrian government was responsible for the chlorine gas attack in the city of blank.

BURBANK: Aleppo.

SAGAL: Right.

SAGAL: On Wednesday, a Senate subcommittee announced it was opening an inquiry into Mylan Pharmaceutical's pricing of blank.

BURBANK: The EpiPens?

SAGAL: Right.

SAGAL: A California law that took effect on Wednesday requires schoolchildren to be blanked or be sent home.

BURBANK: Vaccinated.

SAGAL: Right.

SAGAL: In a ceremony on Sunday, Pope Francis formally canonized blank as a saint.

BURBANK: Mother Teresa.

SAGAL: Right.

SAGAL: After finding a spider in her car, a teenage driver in Australia blanked.

BURBANK: Attacked it with a kangaroo?

SAGAL: No, she leapt from the car, allowing it to plunge into a lake. The whereabouts of the spider are still unknown. On Thursday, ESPN reported that the New York Mets had signed former quarterback blank to a minor league contract.

BURBANK: Tim Tebow.

SAGAL: Right.

SAGAL: This week, conservative activist in Eagle Forum, founder blank, passed away at the age of 92.

BURBANK: Phyllis Schlafly.

SAGAL: Right.

SAGAL: In Canada on Tuesday, a group of women were pulled over by police for blanking in a school zone.

BURBANK: Driving their kids to school?

SAGAL: No, they were smoking a celebratory joint after dropping their kids off at school for the first day.

FELBER: And that's a crime.

SAGAL: According to the officer, when he pulled the women over, quote, "it was pretty evident that the people in the car had been smoking a joint, presumably because the speed limit was 25 and they were going six."

BURBANK: That really - honestly, like, they should give those out on the first day of school to the parents.

SAGAL: Yes, I agree.

FELBER: Absolutely.

SAGAL: Bill, did Luke do well enough to win?

KURTIS: He got really close - six right, 12 more points, but with 15 he couldn't quite catch Faith.

BURBANK: Oh, well.

SALIE: That was good, though.

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(APPLAUSE) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.