NEWS PICKS
Biden lashes out at Republicans for ‘political stunt,’ despite his admin transporting migrants first
President Biden called on Republican governors Thursday to stop sending migrants into Democratic cities and communities, calling such actions “political stunts” and “un-American.”
During an address at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute gala, Biden accused Republicans of “playing politics” and using migrants as “props” after dozens of migrants were sent to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts and to Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence in Washington, D.C.
“Republicans are playing politics with human beings, using them as props. What they’re doing is simply wrong, it’s un-American, it’s reckless,” Biden said Thursday.
“We have a process in place to manage migrants at the border,” the president added. “We’re working to make sure it’s safe and orderly and humane. Republican officials should not interfere with that process by waging a politically political stance.”
Biden administration considering ‘litigation’ against GOP governors over migrants sent to Democratic cities
The Friday meeting involving White House officials along with Homeland Security, State, Justice and Defense departments will also discuss other border issues amid a record number of migrants entering the country illegally, Axios reported.
The meeting was scheduled before Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent two charter planes full of migrants to affluent Martha’s Vineland in Massachusetts on Wednesday, but after months of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey sending busloads of migrants from the border to places like New York City, Chicago and Washington, D.C. Abbott also sent two buses of migrants to Vice President Kamala Harris’ Washington, D.C. home on Thursday.
Chuck Todd says sending migrants to liberal cities is a fundraising ploy. second 7.
CNN Whitehouse Correspondent John Harwood gets the boot by Chris Licht at CNN. Minute 2:13.
Senate Midterm Map Shaped by Abortion, Economy
The party out of power historically has an advantage in picking up seats in the midterms, and Democrats have been weighed down by Mr. Biden’s weak approval numbers, which have rebounded from their lowest point but remain underwater. In the latest Wall Street Journal poll, the president’s job approval stood at 45%, up from 42% in March, while 54% disapprove.
“I started out skeptical that news events are political game-changers. I think that it’s rare,” said Inside Elections editor and publisher Nathan Gonzales. But he said the abortion decision “brought Democratic enthusiasm up to parity with Republican enthusiasm, and that limits Republican opportunities,” particularly in Democratic-held states such as Colorado and Washington, where Republicans were hoping to flip seats.
House Approves Employment Protections for Federal Workers
Editorial: Missouri life expectancy has dropped as its leaders refuse to confront crises
The Missouri report found that coronavirus deaths actually increased in 2021 compared to 2020, when vaccines were unavailable and the pandemic was in full swing. That’s partly because death rates among under-65 patients more than doubled in Missouri in 2021, a time when the state’s older residents were more likely to be fully vaccinated, while many younger people still weren’t.
It’s one more example that, yes, the vaccines work. Yet it’s a message that the state’s Republican leaders seldom hammered as forcefully as they could have for fear of offending a far-right base that views any concession to medical science as lost ground in the culture wars.
Then there were the more-than 1,500 opioid-related deaths in Missouri in 2021, a 15% increase over the year before. The scourge of this national epidemic might have been made worse in Missouri because, until halfway through the year, it was the only state without a process for tracking drug prescriptions to prevent opioid abuse. Gov. Mike Parson finally signed such a system into law in June 2021 — too late to significantly impact the crisis that year — after almost a decade of false starts caused by (again) ideological extremists in the Legislature who viewed such a system as intrusion by big government.
Request to hire even more consultants raises eyebrows at St. Louis agency
The board of the St. Louis Development Corp. tabled all of its agenda items Thursday, three of which related to hiring outreach and technical assistance consultants or approving firms for future work on a new $37 million grant program meant to spur investment in north St. Louis commercial corridors.
“We’re approving consulting contracts left and right at every meeting, and some of these people, I’ve never heard of,” said board member Loura Gilbert, who spent much of her 40-plus-year banking career working in St. Louis community development.
“Just giving me the name doesn’t do much for me. … I know you had an internal group vet and make a recommendation. Still, are these all one-person firms? What’s their capacity? What’s their experience? We don’t ever see any of that.”
THE BEE OR NOT THE BEE
FBI Reports Fantastic Night’s Sleep After Raid On MyPillow
Obamas Construct New Cages At Martha’s Vineyard To Hold Arriving Migrants
Press Secretary Jean-Pierre Blindsided By Journalist Asking A Question
Daily Wire Announces They Are Making Their Own ‘Black Panther’ Starring Ben Shapiro
Google Maps Introduces New ‘Most Ridiculous Route Imaginable’ Button
“Why test the streets”: Rapper Ice T says LA is too dangerous to be wearing bling anymore.
In move to become more serious and nonpartisan, CNN moves Don Lemon to Morning Show.
