Today, several family members of mine decided to hold a garage in anticipation of a family move taking place in the next few weeks. I felt it only prudent to bring it up now, given the ridiculousness of the events that occurred while at the sale. As many posters clearly indicated around the neighborhood, the sale was scheduled to start at 8 pm. Low and behold, at 7:15 am, a line started to form in the driveway, replete with a collection of characters from the underbelly of every major metropolitan city; garage sale hunters. These people scour the streets in search of used camera equipment and vintage handbags and sure enough, they were ready with baited breathe and cash early this morning. After several hours of customers practically begging for less-than-market value prices, the sale came to a close. Selfishly, I came home with a set of dinner plates, and I am happy with my bounty.
I hope each and every one of you had a lovely weekend and either way, here’s what you missed in the news.
Stop Or I’ll Turn This Entire Country Right Around, You Two!
This is the new attitude adopted by the Trump Administration as America’s governing officials argue over whether to fund President Trump’s border wall between the US and Mexico or not. Trump has made it clear that if things do not head in the direction he wants, he has threatened to shut down the government until an agreeable arrangement can be found. Several political analysts, including Ezra Klein, pointed out that Trump’s current temperament surrounding the potential government shutdown has little to do with the wall being built.
“It’s the winning, not the wall, that drives him. It’s showing his supporters he’s fighting for them that powers his presidency, not actually getting anything done. Tuesday’s Oval Office meeting was meant to give Trump what he at least thinks he wants — not the wall, but a fight over the wall.”
–Ezra Klein
As we have seen on countless occasions with President Trump, theatrics are often times more important than the substantive actions associated with them. We’ll just have to wait and see whether Trump indeed makes good on his threat to shutdown the government.
I’m Fracking Tired Of This Pipeline
While I fully support and recognize our nation’s dependence on fossil fuels to power our cars and homes, destroying national forests in search of oil is where I start to take issue. Over the weekend, a panel of federal judges in Virginia, specifically the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, unanimously decided to block construction of an underground oil pipeline that would cross two national forests and a portion of the Appalachian Trail, according to CNN.
“We trust the United States Forest Service to ‘speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues. The George Washington National Forest, Monongahela National Forest, and the Appalachian Trail are national treasures. The administration was far too eager to trade them way for a pipeline conceived to deliver profit to its developers, not gas to consumers. This pipeline is unnecessary and asking fracked gas customers to pay developers to blast this boondoggle through our public lands only adds insult to injury.
-US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals
