Did you ever muse that there’s just too much to read? Of course, I am not referring to No Socks Needed Anymore, but seriously, there’s lots of intriguing (not necessarily good) journalism out there, so your faithful servant/scribe has taken it upon himself to alert you to articles or videos worthy of your time.
To start, I left out of my last blog a cute-as-a-puppy clip from CBS Sunday Morning’s tribute to Valentine’s Day love: https://www.cbsnews.com/video/love-story-reagandoodle-and-little-buddy/
Sticking with the subject of love, though not the pure kind epitomized by the doggie clip, here’s an eye-popping article on sex workers you might have missed from the Style section of The New York Times: https://nyti.ms/2UOmRiL
I cite The Times more than any other newspaper, but I am not elitist when it comes to recommending local media. Thanks to Gilda, who reads the local papers from Omaha and Boston where our children live, here’s a profile of John Pehle from the Omaha World-Herald of a mostly unheralded hero of 75 years ago who saved thousands of lives: https://www.omaha.com/columnists/hansen/hansen-an-omahan-saved-countless-jews-during-the-holocaust-then/article_357296fc-cd60-563a-a221-8c18456c5c9a.html
Many consider Robert Mueller a hero. They can hardly wait for the special counsel’s report on the entanglements of the Trump campaign and presidency with Russia. But as this piece from NBC News notes, full disclosure of his findings is not automatic: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/you-may-be-disappointed-mueller-report-n971601
She’s not eligible to run for president for more than five years, but pundits already have her hat in the ring for the 2024 election, championing radical solutions to our national and world problems. The irony is that Trump’s declaration Friday of a national emergency so he could build a wall along our southern border (assuming the courts uphold his power to do so) makes freshman Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a nightmare for conservatives (if she wins) and a dreamy candidate for extreme progressives. Here’s Politico’s take on it from a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/02/14/trump-national-emergency-border-precedent-225055?cid=apn
Elizabeth Warren provided an enlightened explanation of what might transpire in years ahead: She tweeted, “Gun violence is an emergency. Climate change is an emergency. Our country’s opioid epidemic is an emergency.”
A future president could ban all gun sales, could confiscate all long guns, could limit ammunition sales, all under emergency powers.
A future president could ban construction along shorelines, could order the relocation of residents along the shoreline, could order the construction of massive sea walls, all under emergency powers.
A president could postpone indefinitely future elections under emergency powers.
Sounds crazy but Republicans in Congress have forfeited their power.
Think the courts will stop it all? Trump has been appointing federal judges who believe in the imperial presidency so don’t look to them for any brakes on presidential power.
Dictators look for power vacuums to consolidate their hold. Republicans just let the air out of our checks and balances form of government.
He doesn’t own it anymore, but Trump’s first major Manhattan project, The Grand Hyatt Hotel adjacent to and above Grand Central Terminal, will be torn down, replaced by a scaled down hotel as part of a mixed use development (https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-yorks-grand-hyatt-hotel-to-be-torn-down-11549567095). I wonder if he has any sentimental feelings about that news.
