海角大神

In today鈥檚 edition our five hand-picked stories cover the reach of U.S. executive power on immigration policy, why Hezbollah lost respect in Lebanon, lawmaking in a time of impeachment, a retail challenge to the Salvation Army, and black culture in America according to author Darryl Pinckney.

First, why would a billionaire and the first black governor of Massachusetts each suddenly be pondering a run for president?

Well, Michael Bloomberg and Deval Patrick are probably looking through the lens of impeachment 鈥� a month or two from now.听

Rather than sensing that President Donald Trump will be weakened by the impeachment process, they may be concluding that former Vice President Joe Biden will be the real political casualty of impeachment.听

Mr. Biden hasn鈥檛 pulled away from the Democratic pack. In fact, he has .听

Now, look at at the impeachment hearings: Hunter Biden, two people who would likely promote a theory 鈥� since debunked 鈥� that Ukraine was behind 2016 election interference, and the whistleblower. 聽

Remember, this is a political event. Democrats are trying to show that President Trump was involved in 鈥渢reason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.鈥� The GOP wants American voters to wonder if the Bidens did something wrong. They鈥檒l want to create a moral equivalency 鈥� or reasonable doubt 鈥� between the Bidens鈥� behavior and the president鈥檚 actions with Ukraine.听

If they run, expect Mr. Bloomberg and Mr. Patrick to position themselves as centrists. Mr. Bloomberg offers a businessman鈥檚 pragmatism. Mr. Patrick, with close ties to Barack Obama, could draw African American votes from Mr. Biden. But many observers say Democratic voters, especially progressives, aren鈥檛 looking for more options. Washington Post columnist David Byler says: 鈥淩eal-life, non-million-dollar-donor Democrats are .鈥�

Will that change after impeachment?聽