'The drumbeat of war is sounding loud'
| 'It's getting worse every time'  As we reported yesterday, inflation is becoming a problem for President Joe Biden and his Democrats ahead of November's midterm congressional elections. But it's not yet clear if that's broken through in Washington, which, as the old political truism goes, is often last to get the news. But this may end up being the critical political story of 2022.
Take this comment from 30-year-old Laura Godinez, a construction worker who talked to CNN's Maeve Reston outside a superstore in Reno, Nevada, while loading her weekly grocery haul into the truck that used to cost $100 to fill up but now sets her back $145: "I don't want to say this, but when Donald Trump was here, it was nothing like this." Godinez said she used to lean Republican but has supported Democrats in recent years. "I've been worried, because instead of things getting better, it is getting worse every time. ... I don't know if it's the President, or what happened, but (under Trump) it was so much better," she said.
If that doesn't send Democratic alarm bills ringing 10 months before voters go to the polls, nothing will.
The comment was a reminder that for all the abuses of power, coups, foreign policy tantrums and corruption of the Trump administration, voters are often preoccupied with the more mundane realities that Washington reporters — fixated on the drama in the capital — often miss. Another voter who chatted with Maeve in Nevada — a swing state that has recently been leaning toward Democrats — encapsulated the conundrum the party faces in Washington: There's probably not much it can do to lower inflation, given that it's mostly the result of the pandemic, but Democrats are going to get the blame anyway. "They're the big dogs on the Hill. It's their job to figure out how they're going to help us survive," said Jessica Morrison, a 41-year-old independent who's a single mom. The world and America A Syrian colonel is jailed for life in a landmark torture trial
Britain's royals strip Prince Andrew of official roles and his "HRH" honorific
Nigeria is lifting its ban on Twitter
French teachers go on strike over Covid-19 protocols
Meanwhile in America ... A Democratic senator kills voting rights hopes
Everyone will get free, high-quality masks
Republicans are already plotting Biden's impeachment
And the GOP is running scared of presidential debates  'The drumbeat of war is sounding loud' Things are looking rather dicey in Europe.
The US ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Michael Carpenter, signaled that several days of talks between Washington's envoys and Russia had failed to defuse the Ukraine crisis.
"At the present time, we're facing a crisis in European security. The drumbeat of war is sounding loud, and the rhetoric has gotten rather shrill," Carpenter said. "If the Russians walk away from these talks, it'll be clear that they were never serious about diplomacy in the first place."
Carpenter is not the only one packing the stormy rhetoric. Danes are not known for hyperbole, so the comments by the Copenhagen government's foreign minister are even more perturbing.
"The most important thing now for Putin to understand is that the threats, the military threats, the game he is playing, the way he's trying to take us back to the coldest days, the darkest days of the Cold War, is totally unacceptable," Denmark's Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said. White House tradition on the auction block  The Trumps were known for bucking tradition during their four years in the White House. While ex-President Donald Trump essentially threw out most major presidential norms, former first lady Melania Trump rewrote some key traditions of her unelected office in quieter ways, CNN's Devan Cole writes for Meanwhile.
But now her unconventional maneuverings are getting a lot louder.
The former first lady has put up for auction a bespoke hat (above) that she wore for the 2018 state visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to the White House, as well as a watercolor of her wearing the hat and a nonfungible-token (NFT) of the watercolor. The opening bid: $250,000. The sale of another NFT — a watercolor of her eyes — ended late last year. Though her website says a portion of the proceeds from the auctions will go to charity, it's unclear how much will be donated and how much Trump will pocket.
None of this is normal behavior for a former first lady, as several people who know Trump told CNN's Kate Bennett. But it is normal behavior for a member of the Trump family that has long been dogged by allegations of profiting from the presidency.
In office, the ex-President came under intense scrutiny for the conflicts of interest posed by his businesses under the Trump Organization. Critics accused him of running afoul of a constitutional clause that prohibits presidents from taking money from foreign governments. The company's Washington hotel had been used by some foreign states that paid large sums to stay in its lavish rooms. In that example, challengers could pin their case to an actual law, albeit a nebulous one. With Melania Trump's auctions, there may not be any rules to violate, but she's still gambling with the traditions of her title and the trust Americans place in its sanctity.
To be fair, other former first ladies have made generous amounts of money after leaving office. Former first lady Michelle Obama, for example, authored a highly successful memoir and landed a production deal. But Trump's auctions and foray into cryptocurrency may cross a line of decorum and could be perceived as out of touch given that many Americans are still struggling with the economic fallout from a devastating pandemic.  Criticism of Trump's dealings will probably do little to change her behavior. After all, the noted fashionista signaled to the public in 2018 what she thought about the preoccupation with her choices via a jacket emblazoned with a few simple words: "I really don't care. Do U?" Thanks for reading.
On Friday, in a performance highlighting the threat of climate change, a 2.7-ton iceberg will be suspended 20 meters (around 66 feet) above Sydney Harbour, supporting a solo performer for 10 hours, as it melts beneath her in the sun.
On Saturday, former US President Donald Trump holds a rally about 50 miles from Phoenix, Arizona. Individuals in the US will be able to have the purchase of at-home Covid-19 tests covered by their insurance.
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