ARTIST’S RENDERING of the ballroom shown from the east side (White House).
The U.S. Supreme Court was asked Friday to overturn a lower court’s ruling and allow the construction to continue of President Donald Trump’s controversial ballroom that would replace the demolished East Wing of the White House.
Solicitor General Dr. John Sauer told the high court that the project was nearly two-thirds finished and therefore it might be too far along to be stopped.
Trump Administration lawyers have previously argued that Congress’ approval wasn’t necessary since most of the funding was coming from private contributors.
The cost of the ballroom, which would reportedly also include an underground military complex, is estimated to cost $400 million.
USS Lincoln is coming home
After nine months deployment at sea, the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln will be returning to its home port.
USS Lincoln (Defense Department).
United Press International is reporting that the carrier will be replaced in its Middle East mission by another aircraft carrier.
The Navy Department decided to bring the ship back after 266 days on station because of concerns about the mental health of the sailors and Marines on board amidst reports of some attempted suicides.
President Donald Trump, however, replied that the deployment was not too long. “No, no, no,” he said. “Not nearly enough.”
Judge won’t stop wall along reservation
A plan to build a wall along a 62-mile stretch of land that is part of a Native American reservation may proceed, a judge has ruled.
According to the Associated Press, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon in Washington, D.C., denied a request from the Tohono O’odham Nation to halt the wall on its 2.8 million-acre reservation on the basis that Congressional approval was required and that the planned border wall was a “trespass.”
The judge ruled that the “Government’s interests in
securing the border, enforcing immigration laws and ensuring public safety outweigh any surviving irreparable harms at this juncture.”
The wall would be built along the border with Mexico in Arizona. The tribe includes about 37,000 members.
Weather: It’s still summer, friends
School has started for much of West Orange County and football is right around the corner, so it might be easy to think it’s autumn. But Mother Nature is reminding us of the calendar with some summer weather. The forecast for Saturday is for partly cloudy skies and a daytime high of 82 and an overnight low of 67. Sunday will be similar but warmer at 85 (67). Monday is expected to be mostly sunny with temps of 86 (67), while Tuesday gets partly cloudy skies and temps of 85 (68).
Great Quotations
“Fortune favors the bold.”
– Virgil
“So many books, so little time.”
– Frank Zappa
“I think, therefore I am.”
Rene Rescartes
“A room without books is like a body without a soul.”
– Marcus Tullius Cicero.
