Hello Reader,
It's a new week! I'll give some context on what happened last week in the next section but otherwise Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!! I enjoy the color green. Maybe some luck will be on all of our sides this week.
Spring Break 2025
We're going on break. I might start scheduling a spring break into the schedule from now on. It's due. It's time. a break is needed. At least that's how we feel. I talked about it a bit in last week's article "Not a Newsletter, Newsletter." A break has been loading for some time but I have been reluctant to take one. Missing the Newsletter last week, regardless of the reason, helped to solidify the feeling that it's time. Plus it lines up with the calendar anyway.
Our spring break will be happening from March 23-May 31, 2025. We will be publishing content sporadically so be sure to subscribe to Life with Ken on Substack and follow us on social media to stay up to date with the latest from us. There will be no Newsletter but there may be some sporadic marketing content to keep you engaged. I hope you have a great spring to look forward to this year!
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News Brief
Zendaya Becomes the Highest Paid African-American TV Actress
Via the result of a renegotiated contract Zendaya is set to earn approximately $1 million an episode for season three of Euphoria. This would make her the highest paid African-American actress on TV. She will be taking Angela Bassett's spot. This story first broke a couple years ago, but it has recently resurfaced since season three of Euphoria started filming. The show is set to start airing early 2026. HBO experienced setbacks via the writers and actors strike which delayed the show by at least a year.
Void and Vacant
In a truth social post, President Donald Trump declared the pardons given by President Biden at the end of his presidency to be "hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT". He made this statement because he believes that the pardons along with other legal documents may have been signed with autopen. Autopen essentially means that someone or something else signed Biden's signature on a document and not Biden himself. This basically a non-story because current court precedent is as long as the decision is made by the president, then it's okay to use an autopen. As long as Biden consciously made the decision to pardon the January 6 committee, his son, Anthony Faucci and others then the signature is just a subsequent formality.
As of right now this is a style argument. Trump likes being more hands on and Biden may not have been all there at certain times throughout his presidency. Regardless, unless this gets enough traction to appear in court it's basically a dog whistle. That said, I think the watchmen should stay alert because despite the generally positive approval ratings it's important that this administration and anyone else who may find themselves in an adjacently similar situation, are kept honest by both their supporters and opposition. The threat of tyranny constantly looms because of position and system and not necessarily because of the person, though that can be detrimental as well sometimes.
Chuck Schumer Delays Book Tour
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's new book "Antisemitism in America: A Warning," releases this Tuesday. Unfortunately, however, he is deciding to reschedule some of his book tour for safety concerns. Schumer is in the middle of a flurry of backlash following his decision last week to support the primarily republican continuing resolution to fund the federal government. The democrats have been reeling trying to figure out how to reunify as a party ever since their loss in the 2024 election. None of their tactics have been successful so far and in the brief moment they had to do something oppositional, Schumer appeared with respect to his constituency in New York and at large, to be spineless. His calculus was that he didn't want the democrats to own a shutdown and the CR like a lot of other things happening right now is popular. Even if Schumer opposed the bill, it was likely that other democrats in the senate would support it. Again, the democrats are not in a good position right now and that's because they don't [appear to] support popular or commonsense policies.
Chuck Schumer is taking the blame for not doing something in a moment where he could have and his book sales may suffer for it. That said, I empathize with Schumer because being oppositional just for the sake of being oppositional is not a winning strategy. Democrats are angry and acting out because they don't want to cave to what is objectively popular. I'm sure this is some form of late or final stage Trump Derangement Syndrome, just throw a perpetual temper tantrum. There are some democrats that don't like republican policies or republicans, but at this point a decent amount of today's republican platform is Clinton and first term Obama era democrat policies, so the republican haters in the democrat party are or should be a minority. I think the approach is justifiable but the targets for the democrats anger are disjointed to say the least.
Encouragement for Your Week
This week I want to encourage you to invest in yourself. Go back to school. Get the advanced degree or certificate. Buy that program that will improve your productivity. Get that new laptop, desktop, or piece of equipment with the power and or storage or something related that you need. Sometimes you can arrive at a place in life where you can only do a certain thing well to a certain degree. If you want to reach the next level it may take investment. Sure you can stay where you are but does staying where you are serve you and does it serve you more than taking a progressive step forward? If it doesn't then now may be a good time to take a leap of faith and invest in yourself, an important relationship, your business or something similar, and take a reasonable and potentially necessary step towards improving and advancing your life for the better.
That's if for this Newsletter. I look forward to hopefully getting back to getting these to you in the AM. You can contact me by responding to this email or by clicking here.
Have a meaningful week and next couple of months!