As More Snow Approaches

Home Again

It is 0700 hrs. on Sunday, Feb. 22, and I am abed pondering the arrival of what the National Weather Service's 0600 “brief" predicted would be a “blizzard" for my part of Maryland (high winds, 12-18 inches of snow). Having made a trip to victualler yesterday, our larder is full, but I forgot the little tablets for the dishwasher and so will have to head out here this morning to get them. We have none, and I'd prefer not washing dishes by hand for the near future.

We've been pretty lucky up to this point that our travel schedule helped us avoid much of the pain of the previous snows, but it looks like we'll get the full force of this one. From the latest information, it looks like the Eastern Shore, northern Delaware, and much of New Jersey are in for quite a pounding over the next two days.

We had a lovely time Friday lazing about on the boat anchored just off the airport in Antigua, packing up in shifts as the available room for spreading out is at a premium. Bob picked us up on his launch, a lovely cab driveress picked us up a the pier, security was efficient and quick, and our two flights were uneventful. Cat and I landed at about 0030 hrs Saturday and headed over to the Army and Navy Club of Washington to sleep rather than driving back out to the Shore. I have retained my memberships in both the Army and Navy Club and the Army Navy Country Club (different things altogether) in retirement, and I am in the process of evaluating the wisdom. I pay for non-resident memberships in each which are not terribly expensive, and we have some friends in Northern Virginia with whom we wish to socialize more often, so I think both clubs will stay in the budget for the time being.

In a few moments, I'll dress and then head out to turn the various vehicles in our driveway so that they face the snow rather than back up into it, and then do what I can with the wipers to stow them for snow. It does not appear that there is such a setting for my Lucid, although a continuing heater issue has me on the schedule for them to come out with a tow truck and haul it our to Tysons to fix tomorrow. We'll see how that shakes out.

My anti-heart attack plan is to address the snow in stages, with a shovel in the afternoon, another around dark, and then again Monday morning. I don't do much, but I do what I can. There is unlikely to be exercising with the ladies at the Y tomorrow, and I'm already in communication with my massage lady to cancel that, so it looks like a long couple of hunkered down days.

The Tariff Decision

Like many quasi-sentient beings, I predicted the Supreme Court would rule against the Administration on its ridiculous tariff policy (see here), and the news of its decision on Friday really brightened my day. As is my sometime practice, I read the entire decision. After having done so, I remain confused as to how it could not have been 9-0, but that is the world I wish for rather than the one that is. Kavanaugh's dissent should be read, but the degree to which it conflates tariffs with the foreign policy prerogatives of the Executive is breathtaking. Taking Kavanaugh to a logical conclusion introduces a view of Executive power that terrifies me, and it is disappointing to read its illogic coming from a justice I hold in high regard.

If you have limited time, read Justice Gorsuch's concurrence. It is a masterpiece. Essentially, he decided to get on the record with a ringing defense of the “major questions doctrine", which--while I am not a trained legal mind--has in the past been raised (by him and other right of center jurists) to point out the excessive degree to which the Congress has punted its responsibility to the Executive. The three dissenters in this case (all right of center) had previously been enthusiastic embracers of using the major questions doctrine to rein in the Executive--when the Executive was exercising power in policy areas they clearly did not support. The dissents in this case reek of naked political preference rather than what we got from Gorsuch, the Chief, and ACB who largely share their political preferences.

I did not watch the Infant-in Chief's news conference, but reports pretty much reinforce what I thought his reaction would be. When I think about the degree to which men in his inner circle have sacrificed personal and professional principle to be close to power, I shudder. The Secretaries of Commerce and Treasury were at one time considered to be thoughtful Wall Streeters, but they are left without a shred of credibility after so enthusiastically stanning for what they KNEW to be unconstitutional AND ineffective policy.

I wonder if this could finally be the beginning of the end of our populist moment of madness. It is clear the President is now going to lean on his party to legislatively give him what he claimed as his right, so the Congress will likely have to vote on policy matters that they had until this point been able to duck. Will Americans look at the evidence--both academic and in their own lives--and see the impact of the obvious inflationary nature of tariffs? Will they be placed in the hard place between loyalty to the President and the needs of their constituents? I surely hope so. A guy can dream, can't he?