Word: portentous
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...portent of battles to be fought in the coming years, the Senate voted 42 to 38 to add an antibusing measure to a $9.8 billion appropriation bill for the Justice Department and other agencies. Already passed by the House, the rider would prevent the Justice Department from asking federal judges to use busing as one means of achieving a better racial balance in public schools. The coalition backing the antibusing move was led by Helms. Asked he: "How long are we going to allow a federal bureaucracy in the Justice Department to torment the little children of America...
...before sex in Annie Hall; this is just a joke (like her family). With Woody Allen, the same situation would be defused (but taken seriously) by a reference to his maternal ogre, a castrating Semite battleaxe. And he's notably coy about showing sex scenes, for all the doughy portent about 'relationships' in his films...
Later that morning, yet another traditional portent of stormy political weather in Washington appeared at the White House. Gaunt and dignified, former Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford, 72, the all-purpose confidant of every Democratic President since Harry Truman, was coming to give what aid he could. Carrying his hat in one hand and his attache case in the other, Clifford strode slowly but purposefully across the North Lawn to the West Wing and Brzezinski's office...
...Nigeria's and Libya's low-sulfur oil, which is now much in demand for refining into gasoline. Veteran observers of past OPEC behavior expect the differentials soon to be turning up as part of the price for almost any grade of cartel crude. As a portent of things to come, the Algerians announced that they would immediately start charging the top dollar possible...
Though the flurry in futures cheers farmers and grain dealers, it is also yet another portent of price trouble for the inflation-battered consumer. At the very least it has clouded earlier Department of Agriculture forecasts that food prices would level off this year. Indeed, the rise of nearly 1% in those prices in May that was reported last week was substantially greater than the Administration had expected, since food supplies were so high...