Monday Musings - February 26, 2024

 

1. This is the final Monday of February 2024. It is also the ninth Monday of the year leaving 44 Mondays!

2. Major League Baseball is back! Spring Training is in full swing and the Orioles played two games over the weekend. It was good to see them back on the field. While people will say that Spring Training records do not matter, they do. It is nice to see the team return to the field every bit as scrappy as they were last season in posting two wins. 

3. The past few days have been very enjoyable here in South Florida with temperatures in the 70s, mild winds, and beautiful clear blue skies. Wow. Last evening we sat in our driveway enjoying the bright, warm sun and some neighbors showed up and we had a great Happy hour together. We eventually moved to the patio to escape the heat of the sun. 

4. The reluctance of House Republicans to support Ukraine has global implications. Putin is trying to tear up the rules-based international order that has protected international boundaries since World War II, while Trump has threatened to destroy the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that holds back Russian aggression. In the Wall Street Journal on Friday, chief foreign affairs correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov noted that European countries are worried that the U.S. will not defend its allies, while Putin has made “a de facto military alliance with the rogue regimes of North Korea and Iran while growing closer and closer to authoritarian China.” (Letters from an American)

5. The First Amendment [of the Constitution of the United States] prohibits the establishment of a national religion, and that same prohibition applies to the states through the 14th Amendment. What’s heartbreaking in Alabama this week is its Supreme Court Justices’ decision to abandon the Constitution and laws they took an oath to serve, in favor of advancing a religious agenda. (Civil Discourse)

6. Today in History. February 26, 1993. At 12:18 p.m., a terrorist bomb explodes in a parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York City, leaving a massive, multi-story crater and causing the collapse of several steel-reinforced concrete floors in the vicinity of the blast. 

Although the terrorist bomb failed to critically damage the main structure of the skyscrapers, six people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured. The World Trade Center itself suffered more than $500 million in damage. After the attack, authorities evacuated 50,000 people from the buildings, hundreds of whom were suffering from smoke inhalation. The evacuation lasted the whole afternoon.

Zelensky: 'It's unbelievable' that Trump is on Putin's side - CNN

Trump’s plan to use Judge Cannon to block Judge Chutkan and avoid trial - CNN

There are five days until a partial government shutdown, and lawmakers have yet to reach a deal to avert it   - CNN

Palestinian Prime Minister Shtayyeh resigns - Reuters

Navalny was close to being freed in prisoner swap, says ally - Reuters

Exclusive: Satellite images reveal floating barrier at mouth of disputed atoll in South China Sea - Reuters

How AI Is Transforming Air-Traffic-Control Towers - The Wall Street Journal

AT&T to Reimburse Customers Struck by Outage - The Wall Street Journal

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

#mondaymusings #constitution #oriolesbaseball