I had an unusually busy week for purely local reasons, so there won’t be a featured post this week. (Among other activities, I had a cooking article published on the online local news site. This fact should be hilarious to anybody who knows me. I mention only in passing the incident where I accidentally set fire to an oven mitt.)
The weekly summary will discuss the $83 million jury award to E. Jean Carroll, which mostly consists of punitive damages to get Donald Trump to stop defaming her. I’ll also mention the other cases we’re currently waiting on, including the NY civil fraud trial against the Trump Organization, whose verdict is expected sometime this week.
There were a number of developments in the Gaza War this week. The House looks ready to junk a Senate deal on the border, which is simultaneously an immediate crisis and not worth doing anything about until the next Trump administration. Nikki Haley soldiers on, and may be more fun to listen to now that she no longer has any real chance to win. The economic news continues to be good, and Democrats seem more optimistic about Biden. And Texas is reviving the nullification issue South Carolina raised against Andy Jackson. The week’s best suggestion: If we simultaneously let Texas secede and admit Puerto Rico, we don’t have to change the flag.
I’ll try to get that out before noon.
The Weekly Sift 
Comments
Great idea to trade Texas for Puerto Rico!
I love the “best suggestion!”
Or let Texas go, watch blue parts of Texas apply for statehood as “Good Texas,” and let Puerto Rico in.
how about giving Texas back to Mexico? That would be original-ish. More seriously, the House Rs caring what Donald Trump thinks about a border deal is a gross violation of “one president at a time” like the bad old days of Kissinger et al banjaxing Vietnam talks, costing untold US and South Asian lives. Just stop it.
Anyone who cooks has burnt pots, oven mitts, holes in towels. Though Kitchens can be dangerous places, they are where we want to be in these dangerous times.
Good luck with your recipes. In these trouble times, people are exploring the world by doing cooking from different cultures and regions. Food sustains us, more than its nutritional value. More than the warmth of soup, it’s the inherent meanings we ascribe to food. Bon Appetite.