Good week/Bad week

Good week for:

Strange bedfellows, after the Justice Department’s Inspector General report revealed that Christopher Steele, the former British spy who authored a dossier portraying Donald Trump as vulnerable to Russian blackmail, had been “personal” friends since 2007 with Ivanka Trump and once met with her at Trump Tower.

Old plumbing, with a claim by President Trump that because of new eco-friendly, water-saving commodes, “people are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once.”

Finally being heard, with new research finding that plants emit high-pitched sounds, too high for humans to hear, when they lack water or have their stems cut. “These findings can alter the way we think about the plant kingdom, which has been considered to be almost silent until now,” wrote the study’s authors.

Bad week for:

Stowaways, after a woman was repeatedly stung by a scorpion aboard a United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Atlanta. She was hospitalized upon landing.

Excuses, after Yolanda Waters, chair of the Galveston, Texas, Republican Party, claimed a text message in which she called an African-American co-worker a “typical nig” was just a typo. “I usually type very fast,” Waters explained.

Song references, after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked “When will I be loved?” in introducing singer Linda Ronstadt at a Washington dinner this week—a joking reference to Ronstadt’s 1974 hit single. “Maybe when you stop enabling President Trump,” Ronstadt retorted to gasps and cheers.

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