The Weekly Sift

It’s another Monday where I may run late, but for an upbeat reason rather than a downbeat one: This weekend I flew back from visiting friends in Hawaii and lost a night’s sleep in the process. I’m still adjusting to east-coast time and moving a little slowly. But I’m explaining, not complaining. What little is left of New England winter should be pretty easy to take now.

Did anything happen these last two weeks? Oh yeah: Trump switched sides in the Ukraine War. On tariffs, he changed directions back and forth like Barry Sanders on a downfield run. He gave an extraordinarily lie-filled speech to Congress, earning wild cheers from Republican lawmakers who appear to be tired of wielding legislative power and eager for the executive branch to take it from them. Elon Musk warned Americans that empathy is an exploitable weakness, while protesters circled Tesla dealerships and the Supreme Court hinted (maybe sorta) that it might rein him in.

Personal note: While in Hawaii, I temporarily joined the impromptu Maui Justice Choir at a demonstration. We sang “Can You Hear the People Sing?” from Les Miz (leaving out the verse about the blood of martyrs; let’s hope that’s not needed). Singing turns out to be different from public speaking in churches: People actually cheer when you’re done rather than express their appreciation more sedately.

So anyway, here’s what I’ve got planned today: The featured article will try to solve the tariff mystery. Nothing Trump says about his tariffs makes any sense, so what’s really going on? That should be out by 10 EDT, maybe. As usual, I’ll aim to get the weekly summary out by noon, but again, I’m not fully recovered yet from travel.