The country was riven by storms over health care, Russia and immigration while Massachusetts braced for -- really? -- a spring nor'easter.
- Scrambling. The collapse of the GOP’s health care plan had Democrats doing victory dances and political commentators writing the still-young administration’s epitaph. Embarrassing? Yes. Fatal? No. For a White House in trouble, there still seems to be a lot going on. This week, for example, President Trump signed an executive order rolling back Obama-era climate change policy. Moreover, Republicans are restarting discussions over “repeal and replace.” We may find that last week’s tumult was less failure than learning experience. Don’t count Trump out yet.
- Make America safe again. That said, it’s now been three months without an immigration ban -- the one that was so pressing it was rushed out just seven days after Trump’s inauguration. And there seems to be a curious lack of urgency from the administration about changing that. Indeed, a court-ordered injunction was just extended Wednesday. Could it be possible that the ban really wasn’t needed? Could it just have been red meat thrown to xenophobic, anti-Muslim supporters of the president? And having done that, there’s now no real need to actually do anything more?
- The Joe Arpaio of the Northeast. Meanwhile, Tom Hodgson, sheriff of Bristol County, testified before Congress that the mayors of Boston, Somerville and other cities should be arrested for presiding over immigrant-friendly “sanctuary cities.” There you have it: proof positive that Massachusetts isn’t home only to the loony left.
- Great no more. Great Britain on Wednesday gave formal notice to the European Union that it would soon leave, which, in turn, likely triggers the exit of Scotland and Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom, which means pretty soon we’ll just be calling the country “Britain.”
- There’s one born every minute. Massachusetts is contemplating legalizing online gambling and the state’s casino operators -- who paid $195 million to open four of them -- are crying foul. “The state can’t now make a fundamental change in the deal we made,” says one casino rep. Oh yes, it can. Just ask the taxicab industry. Expensive medallions supposedly gave cabbies a monopoly on rides-for-hire. That was upended by the likes of Uber and Lyft. The same will happen to casinos — even if the Bay State doesn’t legalize online betting, other states will. That $195 million? Bad bet, guys.
- The anti-Brady. Daily coverage of the Aaron Hernandez murder trial continued as this week we learned that… oh, who am I kidding? The guy’s already in prison for life; this latest case is just (well-deserved) piling on, and the verdict is a foregone conclusion. So why is the trial front-page news? Are ex-NFL players really that fascinating? Or is it because Trump 24/7 is just sensory overload and we need something – anything – to distract us?
- Mom and Dad take over. Has anyone noticed that the House and Senate are like kids and grownups? The House’s probe into Trump’s Russia ties has been amateurish, with Chair Devin Nunes almost comically in the tank to the president. So now the Senate comes to the rescue, with Sens. Richard Burr and Mark Warner -- a Republican and a Democrat — standing together at a press conference, patiently explaining how a real investigation should be conducted. Thank God for bicameralism.
- The good news is there are no lines. Speaking of the Senate, it turns out that not a lot of folks are going to the Edward Moore Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. It was supposed to have 150,000 visitors annually; the last two years averaged only 62,000. A couple of thoughts. First, it needs a better name -- nine words is just way too many. Second, the place plays more as an homage to the late senator himself than to the Senate. An exact reproduction of Kennedy’s office may appeal to the Kennedy fanatics that still abound in the Bay State, but to others, the institute seems more like a personality cult.
- Xfinity is like my brother…my Big Brother. The president this week signed legislation allowing internet providers to track every site their customers visit. This latest assault on privacy probably won’t bother hardcore Facebook users. But the rest of us? If you don’t know about VPNs, you may want to learn.
- The real reason for the Internet. And finally, proposed legislation in Alabama would require all mobile devices and computers to be sold with porn blockers. Owners could only unblock them by paying the state a $20 fee. Brilliant move! With 4.9 million residents, Alabama has just figured out how to instantly raise a cool $98 million in new taxes!
This column was first published by Cognoscenti on March 31, 2017.