Seizing defeat from the jaws of victory, President Donald J. Trump has trumpeted his intent to invoke his emergency powers to build a wall on the southern border even as he plans to sign the bipartisan deal to fund the government and avert a shutdown, because, you know, a shutdown is “a terrible thing,” especially if it adversely affects your ratings, er, polling numbers.
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The week that was
Last week was another minefield in which we found ourselves treading carefully.
We begin with the state of Virginia, which seems to be collapsing like a house of cards with revelations of blackface and allegations of sexual assault against the governor and the lieutenant governor respectively. (The state attorney general and some Republicans have also admitted to having done blackface.) I have great respect for Mark Shields and David Brooks on “PBS NewsHour,” but I think they missed the point in saying that Gov. Ralph Northam’s blackface experience is mitigated by his good work. The Buddhist principle of karma holds that what you put out in the universe returns to you. This is different from the vengeful, biblical “What you sow you reap.” It’s merely cause and effect. You do it, you own it, because it will come full circle, regardless of what else you have done.
Read MoreNo escape from the past
When I was in college, I was invited by some female classmates to join them in posing nude for some Polaroids. Horrified but not wanting to appear uncool, I instead posed a question: “You want to be an architect, a lawyer, a doctor, a biochemist?,” I asked. “Yes, of course," they said. This was the 1970s when sexual liberation and experimentation was in the air along with lofty ambitions for women and the women’s movement. But I saw that those ambitions and that liberation were on collision course and told my classmates that those photos would one day come back to bite them in their bare butts.
Read MoreNo easy way out
“New England Patriots legend Tom Brady will be playing in his record ninth Super Bowl on Sunday, while the Los Angeles Rams’ 24-year-old signal-caller, Jared Goff, will be playing in his first. But no quarterback looms over the NFL like one who has not set foot on an NFL field since the 2016 season — former San Francisco 49er Colin Kaepernick,” Michael A. Fletcher writes on The Undefeated.
Read MoreDonald Trump's female troubles
Ann Coulter called Donnie a “wimp.”
And Nancy Pelosi proved she was right.
On yet another Farewell Friday — goodbye, Roger Stone — President Donald J. Trumpet announced that a deal had been made to end the 35-day government shutdown that held 800,000 federal workers and the rest of the nation hostage. Translation: Senate Majority Leader “Mitchie” McConnell told Hair Furor that he didn’t have the votes to keep the repudiated Repubs in line and so Donnie Two Scoops was forced to cave.
Read MoreA wall named Nancy
Sometimes in life you get what you want but do not recognize it. For more than a month, President Donald J. Trump, enabled by the Republicans, has held 800,000 federal workers and, indeed, the entire nation hostage and all for a wall that is designed ostensibly to increase security at the southern border but is really about keeping out the people he considers undesirable.
And yet, Donnie already has a wall.
Her name is Nancy Pelosi. And everywhere he turns, he finds himself up against it, her.
Read MoreIs some speech freer than others?
Everyone is entitled to his opinion, until, of course, someone thinks he isn’t. Recently, three incidents have challenged our concept of freedom of speech.
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