Ah, February. Perhaps the hardest month of the year to spell. But it’s always such a nice month in the mid-valley, right? Let’s just take a look at the weather forecast for the next week and — oh, God, what’s this? Snow? This interactive map posted by our friends at The Oregonian/OregonLive suggests that the Corvallis area might collect 1-2 inches of snowfall over the next three days. In the unlikely event of snow accumulation on western Oregon roadways, drivers, remember this important tip: Never brake.

Meanwhile, as we dig through our garages for snow shovels and prepare for emergency runs to the grocery store (you never can have enough toilet paper, as we have learned), let’s reflect on another wild week, during which Democrats learned the meaning of the phrase “flood the zone” and reporters picked up tips on how to know when they were being followed.

You might recall that Howell Raines, a former editor of The New York Times, used the phrase “flood the zone” to describe the paper’s coverage philosophy. I doubt that Raines was the first to come up with the phrase, but maybe Donald Trump was listening — and it certainly has described the first two weeks of his second term. If you were paying much attention to Trump during the campaign, you probably haven’t been surprised that much by these initiatives (with the possible exception of the funding freeze) — but the pace at which they’ve been rolling out appears to have caught Democrats and members of the media by surprise. Here’s Luke Broadwater in The New York Times exploring the strategy.

In The Atlantic, Elaine Godfrey writes that the Democratic reaction to Donald Trump’s busy two weeks has left activists fuming. The headline tells you just about everything you need to know about the story: “Democrats Wonder Where Their Leaders Are.”

These are times that call for Jon Stewart, and he was sharp as usual on Monday’s “Daily Show.” His opening monologue reflected on the increasing ineffectiveness of slapping Trump with the “fascist” label. He also noted how most of Trump’s actions so far fall within the powers we have given the president. “Look, I really hope Democrats find a way to contain this guy,” he said. “The question is probably not ‘how dare he,’ though. The question should be, what are you learning from this?’ How would you use this power? What’s your contract with America?”

Meanwhile, the Senate is still considering the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be the head of the Department of Health and Human Services. Nicholas Kristof, occasional Oregon resident and this year’s speaker at Oregon State University’s graduation ceremony, has a few thoughts in The New York Times about the nomination.

Why has Meta, the parent company of Facebook, elected to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit filed by Trump? Well, really, you already know the answer. But as Michael Scherer explains in The Atlantic, Trump’s recent string of legal victories almost certainly presages a fresh new flurry of lawsuits by Trump against media outlets that have displeased him.

Oregon legislators have introduced three bills to repeal the state’s 2021 law that limits the ability of cities to ban sleeping outside. As you may recall, the law allows cities to restrict people from “sitting, lying, sleeping or keeping warm and dry outdoors on public property that is open to the public” only if those restrictions are “objectively reasonable as to time, place and manner with regards to persons experiencing homelessness.” None of those bills has yet been scheduled for a hearing. The League of Oregon Cities is lobbying legislators to clarify the law, but isn’t calling for a repeal — rather, cities want more leeway to clear homeless camps. At Tuesday’s “City Day” at the Legislature, city leaders also made a pitch for more help with infrastructure — and if we’re going to build more homes, there’s no doubt we need a lot more infrastructure. Julia Shumway at the Oregon Capital Chronicle had details of the day, which then was hijacked by news of the federal funding freeze. See? That’s how “flooding the zone” works.

Meanwhile, how is Oregon doing with its efforts to build more homes in a hurry? Well … it could be going better, the state economist told the Legislature this week. The report, by the way, estimates that Corvallis will need nearly 8,000 new homes in the next 20 years and Philomath will need another 800 or so.

The Nieman Lab at Harvard has a story about a class that sought to teach journalists how to identify people who might be following them. (This could be a life-and-death matter for journalists abroad, and it certainly seems that it could be useful these days in the United States.) As part of the class, each journalist walked a mile-long route and tried to pick out the person who had been assigned to follow them. Not one of these experienced, hard-boiled journalists successfully identified their follower. The class instructor told his students that “There’s a fine line between being aware and being paranoid.” To which I would add: Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean you’re not being followed.

Have you noticed that certain prestige TV shows — think “Severance” or “Game of Thrones” or “Foundation” — are going all-out in their title sequences? No? Well, thankfully, The New York Times has — and wonders if some of these title sequences are going overboard. By the way, I have not made it to the second season of “Severance” yet, so nobody tell me anything.

Yair Rosenberg writes in The Atlantic about “Stimulation Clicker,” a new online game that’s more than a game — it’s a lovingly precise parody of the internet experience, and a bracing commentary about how our online lives have gone off the rails. It’s the brainchild of Neal Agalwal, a programmer who’s making a living creating these parody sites. Go play it! Let me know how it goes for you!

Meanwhile, remember not to brake this week and we’ll see you all back here next weekend.