Saturday, June 03, 2023

The Week That Was



The announcement from Arizona’s Valley of the Sun that new building permits will be suspended due to a lack of water is evidence that at least in some parts of the country we are beginning to encounter the constraints that will be imposed on our future plans by climate change.

That was the week’s most important story, though it got minimal attention.

What is ironic is that it was a relatively wet winter in the Phoenix area, as the remnants of California’s atmospheric rivers brought storm after storm over from the coast.

But it wasn’t enough to sustain continued expansion in what up until now has long been one of the fastest-growing parts of the U.S. There simply isn’t enough water to go around.

We’ve likely reached a tipping point.

***

Bipartisan government finally arrived in Washington, D.C., this week in the form of the Congressional deal to avert a government default on debt payments. This story got most of the media attention.

The two parties can’t seem to agree on much, but under the leadership of President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy, they marshaled a solid consensus of elected officials from both parties to raise the debt ceiling while limiting some of the runaway spending that is fueling the debt crisis year after year.

It was a moment that called for a little bit of mutual congratulation and perhaps praise, but the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, couldn’t help but make a self-serving, gloating speech instead, crediting his own party while not even acknowledging the many Republicans who voted for the deal. McCarthy’s own speech was somewhat better, but he gratuitously criticized what he characterized as a long White House delay on the issue.

Biden’s victory lap speech was the most gracious of the three, thanking McCarthy and Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, and praising the bipartisanship that got the deal done. He maintained that his political priorities remain intact, however, and got in a few digs at his GOP opponents in the upcoming presidential campaign.

All in all, a positive development for the nation.

***

Mike Pence was cleared in his classified documents probe by the Justice Department, which was not a surprise. I doubt anyone thinks that the strait-laced Pence, who will not even have dinner alone with a woman not his wife, ever intended to keep classified documents in his home in the first place. It was an honest mistake.

But similar investigations by special prosecutors into Trump and Biden, both of whom also had classified documents in their possession after leaving office, remain active. Biden’s case is from the distant past, stemming like Pence’s from when he was vice-president, and it seems unlikely to amount to anything much legally.

Trump’s is another matter, and is one of the serious legal threats imperiling his campaign for president in 2024. Many other Republicans, including Pence, appear poised to enter the race to challenge Biden next year. Their calculation is at least partly built on the assumption that Trump will eventually be forced to step aside.

Let’s hope they are right. We do not need a return of the man whose only honest slogan would be “Make America Hate Again.”

That’s one thing we don’t need more of.

***

In a personal update, I’m about to begin an attempt to garden in a birthday present — a large wooden planter in the front yard. I’m planning to buy soil and seeds this weekend and resume a hobby from many years ago. Photos will be forthcoming.

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