The question which is troubling many in the US today is whether Donald Trump has the legal authority for some of his actions and in particular, depriving the USAID programme of several billions of its budget. The second Trump Administration has wasted little time in testing the boundaries of executive authority. While many of the President’s supporters are cheering him on, some legal experts see a constitutional crisis unfolding, as many of Trump’s moves raise urgent legal and constitutional questions that could take years to fully unravel. Trump, whose first term was marked by repeated clashes with the courts and Congress over executive overreach, has signalled an even more aggressive approach this time around. His Administration’s recent actions—attempting to dismantle independent agencies, granting private individuals access to sensitive government systems, and offering unprecedented federal employee buyouts—are already triggering legal challenges and intense debate over the limits of presidential power. It appears that the ultimate arbiter in such constitutional matters is the Congress and not the President himself but will a Congress in which both houses are Republican and assent to the Trump agenda ever indicate that Trump has gone too far? It only takes a few independent minded Republicans to vote with the Democrats but they are few and far between and the Senate and the Supreme Court is firmly in Trump's hands as well. It makes one wonder what Donald Trump's view of the legal process is if not just an annoying fly to be swatted away. But even going back to Magna Carta, we have seen 'the law' as the bulwark against overwhelming power in the hands of one man (and hence the Barons wresting authority from King John in 1215) Yesterday the day started off very cold, according to Alexa who I consult every morning when I get up and make my early morning cup of tea. But it is one of those days when the day being cloudless starts off cold, but the sun gives us a more spring-like feel as the day wears on. It seems that we are in for a spell of more cloudy, but still dry, weather over the weekend, though. I need to keep an eye on the weather both to keep a watch on my heating bills but also to assess whether it is suitable for a quick excursion for Meg these days. In general, Tuesdays and Saturdays are the days which are 'fixed points' when I have a rendezvous with our friends in Wetherspoons.
This morning, Meg was attended to by the young Asian male carer who knows Meg very well and another female carer who often sees to Meg. After we had got Meg up and breakfasted, I went off to do my weekly shopping and the young male carer managed to get a bit more tea into Meg whilst was out. When I returned, he got himself into a bit of a panic because he had put his car keys down and then mislaid them. As we move Meg from one lounge to another and each lounge is quite large then the car keys could have been anywhere. Eventually we managed to locate them and exactly the same thing happened to the carer as happened to me a few days ago. I have a large Italian made leather armchair with curved arms and it is the most natural thing in the world to put things down on one of the arms of the chairs. From there, they can easily slide down to be 'lost' amongst the papers and other things I have beside the chair. Fortunately, the young carer kept his head and retraced his early morning movements from where he could locate the keys but they were completely hidden from sight, and we could have have turned the house upside down without success if we had not found them after about twenty minutes of frantic searching. As the carer is here for a 'sit' session, he buys himself some lunch from Greggs and insists that he buys some treats for Meg and myself but although I try to resist his entreaties I suspect he would be offended if I dd not accept his kind offer. Whilst I was out, the district norse called around and took a blood sample which she seemed to obtain fairly easily on this occasion (unlike last time) After the afternoon carer had called (the same as this morning) I received a phone call from the community physiotherapist about the 'contracture' in Meg's knees. After taking a fairly detailed history over the phone, the physio is due to call around next Monday afternoon to which I shall look forward.
I started to watch a biopic about the life story of Aretha Franklin which was quite interesting and told the story in great detail of an overbearing father against whom she rebelled. At one time I followed the stories of Bessie Smith who had a similar biography and sometimes it is the case that these young black singers make their first mark in church and are then spotted o cultivated by music entrepreneurs, not always with happy consequences. We started to follow up this up with a PBS film of Dan Snow's account of the Armada which seemed interesting enough, but I am not sure if Meg followed it and our viewing was interrupted by phone calls in any case. However, I am pleased to say that although Meg's condition is becoming more complex to manage, myself and the carers in combination are coming up with solutions. I am managing to get a bit more fluid into Meg by the judicious use of a dinky little fine china coffee cup (actually a souvenir). Under the direction of the District Nurses. we are also managing to utilise an arrangement of cushions which is helping to alleviate the deep tissue injury to Meg's heel which started out as a pressure sore and developed. But the day has developed into a 'better' day with managing to get more food and drink inside Meg than is often the case and we still have the 'goodies' bought for us from Greggs to enjoy.
© Mike Hart [2025]