Trump Threatens 'Years' of Shutdown | Warren Eyes 2020 in Iowa

To build his border wall without Congressional consent, President Donald Trump is considering declaring a national emergency. He floated the idea Friday while threatening “months or even years” of a shutdown — now starting its third week — following talks over stopgap government funding that Democratic leaders called “contentious.” Meanwhile, more TSA airport security personnel, who are working without pay, are calling in sick. And there were signs of cracks in presidential solidarity, with some Republican senators indicating they’d support a wall-free funding bill, while Trump promised a “very productive” weekend.

Following her announcement that she’s interested in the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Elizabeth Warren plans to hit the Hawkeye State this weekend, where she’s already hired four experienced campaign hands. The first Democratic contender to formally vie for the nation’s top job next year, she’ll make five stops in three days. Meanwhile, with his scathing Washington Post op-ed impugning President Trump’s character, newly minted Utah Sen. Mitt Romney has seemingly cracked the ice for possible electoral challenges by his fellow Republicans — few of whom were prepared to endorse the critique.

They haven’t forgotten. But facing the loss of European Union rights, some British Jews are considering what for many had been unthinkable: applying for German citizenship, lost by their family during the Holocaust. In 2015, only 43 Britons made such a request under Article 116 of the German Constitution. Since 2016’s Brexit vote, some 3,000 have applied. Compounding that irony is that some are troubled by a recent rise in anti-Semitism in Great Britain, and regard Germany as more tolerant. Said one applicant, “It’s about knowing that you can live and be safe.”

It’s an “impossible state,” says Milorad Dodik, Bosnia-Herzegovina’s president. When Western allies helped broker a fragile agreement there between Christian Serbs and Bosnian Muslims two decades ago, Dodik was a “breath of fresh air” representing the region’s future stability. In recent years, fresh air hasn’t won many votes, and he’s admittedly hardened his rhetoric to please his fellow Bosnian Serbs. Lately he’s been slapped with U.S. sanctions after undermining the Dayton Accords, which ended a bloody conflict in 1995, by pushing his goal of a sovereign Republika Srpska.

The Week Ahead: NFL playoffs begin today with two Wild Card Round games, Indianapolis at Houston and Seattle at Dallas. On Sunday, the 76th annual Golden Globe Awards will be hosted by actors Sandra Oh and Andy Samberg. And CES, the world’s largest consumer electronics show, will run Tuesday through Friday in Las Vegas.

Know This: A federal judge has extended the 18-month term of the grand jury hearing cases brought by special counsel Robert Muller’s investigation into Russian election meddling and related issues involving President Trump’s 2016 election campaign. A fire Friday during an “escape room” game in Poland has killed five teen-aged girls. And a woman in North Carolina found refuge from an attempted kidnapping — in a karate studio.

#OZYfact: Nearly 14 percent of women younger than 24 are married by some form of coercion in Kyrgyzstan, where bride kidnapping is a matrimonial tradition.

How can Christians fight evil in the world? Joshua Casteel knew: “Refrain from doing it.” He took that lesson from Iraq, where he worked at one of the world’s most notorious prisons. The devout Christian followed his Army service speaking and writing about the lessons gleaned from the interrogations and humiliation prisoners were subjected to and even the pollution caused by military burn pits. After Casteel died of lung cancer, his mother continued his legacy through a foundation, raising awareness of how duty, faith and morality clash when good people do nothing.

“Man is part of the land.” That ethos guides the Menominee, an ancient people who’ve kept their remaining patch of the Dairy State densely forested — even while supporting themselves by selectively harvesting trees for their sawmill. Foresters and scientists study this remarkable sustainability and how it’s threatened by climate change. Drought, storms and invasive species imperil the reservation’s forests, where hemlock trees are vanishing and warm-weather hickory is taking root. Subzero days needed to firm logging roads are also declining, shaking hope that this holistic tradition can survive.

At-home medical remedies were once cause for concern, but now they might be the future of health care. Eve Medical, inspired by the startling fact that a third of Canadian women avoid regular Pap smears, is leading the charge with a DIY test. Other self-administered care includes fertility treatments, physical therapy and STD screening. At-home diagnostic tools are nothing new and have blossomed in popularity among patients sick of waiting for results. Experts worry, though, that misinterpreted results could cause unnecessary anxiety and, even worse, false confidence.

She made connections, and not always by choice. Lauren Hough spent 10 years as a “cable guy,” in suburban northern Virginia, encountering everything from aquatic snakes to nude customers to dead cats. “Humanity is rarer than I imagined when I first took the job,” Hough writes. That meant she had to be prepared for anything — homophobia, threats, men in cages and even Dick Cheney. Hough’s job involved more than fixing cable. It was also about putting up with dispatchers’ gender politics, the class divide and mastering the art of finessing pee breaks.

“My story’s far from over.” So said Jalen Hurts shortly before last week’s Orange Bowl amid chatter that he’s eyeing a transfer. Voted by Alabama teammates, who play Clemson for the championship Monday, as most inspirational player, Hurts nevertheless lost the starting spot this season to Heisman Trophy runner-up Tua Tagovailoa. He’s suggested he’ll stay, but switching schools may be his best hope of reaching the NFL. Despite being replaced, those who know Hurts, like Bama’s strength coach, Scott Cochran, say he’ll persevere: “He’s built with something different.”