After his invigorating Memorial Day weekend trip to Afghanistan, the President leaves the storied delights of Bagram Airfield behind for the shilling fields of DC. No wonder he’s planning to get out of town again by midweek, when he’ll head to West Point to deliver a commencement address focused on foreign policy, advocating what one Administration official calls “interventionism but not overreach.”
But before he gets that far, on Tuesday the President plays host to the fifth annual White House Science Fair. This year’s edition celebrates the achievements of women and girls in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) competitions nationwide.
Speaking of the President, Senator Ted Cruz, intrepid Texan-Canadian-Cuban defender of all things he considers Constitutional, warned last Thursday that the wily Kenyan Usurper and his Senate henchmen are goiing to repeal the First Amendment. Will it happen this week? You never know. Stay vigilant, and keep a bag packed in case you have to flee the house ahead of the secret police coming to haul you off to that FEMA camp you heard tell was being built out there in the woods past Transit Road.
Tuesday, voters will decide whether veteran Congressman Ralph Hall – 91 years old and a lurid example of that weirdest of political creatures, a Democrat turned Republican – should get another kick at the can, or whether he has already done sufficient damage to the Republic and should be replaced by the even more odious John Ratcliffe. If you’re a voter in the Texas 4th, well, to paraphrase Simon and Garfunkel, “any way you look at it, you lose.”
Edward Snowden’s first interview with US mainstream media appears Wednesday, when NBC airs a sit-down he taped with the oleaginous Brian Williams in Moscow last week. I reckon the odds of Williams eliciting anything probative are roughly the same as Snowden’s chances of returning home to a tickertape parade and a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
With John Conyers’ name back on the primary ballot by order of US District Court Judge Matthew Leitman last Friday, all eyes are on Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, who has until June 6 to appeal the reinstatement before the ballot is officially certified. With Conyers on the ballot or as a write-in candidate, the primary will be held on August 5.
After the latest high-profile mass murder on Friday, Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal has been pushing the idea of reviving defunct gun control measures in the Senate, possibly by including revisions intended to address the difficult policy juncture of mental health issues and gun rights. Expect a majority of Senators to evince issues of their own by mouthing a few unhelpful clichés and ultimately failing to pass a damned thing.
Civil rights attorney Joshua Newville, who is currently fighting South Dakota’s same-sex marriage ban, has announced that he’s decided to take on North Dakota’s ban as well. It’s the last such prohibition in the nation to be subjected to a legal challenge. Newville says a suit will be brought within six to eight weeks, but it’s certain that this week will see every frantic, sweaty-palmed conservative bigot in ND, and across the nation, clamber up on his or her soapbox to decry the heretical notion that fellow citizens should be free to marry anyone they please.
The United States continues to assess the situation in Thailand following last week’s military coup. $3.5 million in aid has been suspended, while a remaining $7 million is still under review.
After a May 22 unveiling ceremony at the White House, the USPS hosts an event in San Francisco on Wednesday to mark the issuing of a stamp honoring the late politician and activist Harvey Milk.
