NEWS AND OPINION:
The Republican Party is dutifully tracking how many times President Biden has departed the White House for the weekend, bound for his home state of Delaware where he owns two very nice houses.
Mr. Biden has now reached a major milestone in the last 48 hours.
The president has spent his “50th vacation” this weekend in Delaware, Republican National Committee spokesperson Nathan Brand said in a statement.
In the process, Mr. Biden is “ignoring the havoc he’s unleashed on Americans’ pocketbooks, our southern border, and our nation’s standing on the world stage,” Mr. Brand said.
“The only thing Biden does more than vacation is make life worse for working families with the Biden gas hike and skyrocketing prices for everyday goods. Voters are more than ready to send Biden and congressional Democrats packing on a permanent vacation,” he concluded.
FOR THE LEXICON
“All malarkey, all the time.”
This handy phrase comes from New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin, who cites multiple examples of President Biden’s tendency to avoid straightforward talk and helpful answers when he is on the public stage.
“It feels like only yesterday when Joe Biden promised there would be ‘No Malarkey’ in his White House. To underscore the point, he had the words painted in giant letters on a bus he used in 2019,” Mr. Goodwin wrote Sunday.
“However you translate malarkey — ‘bulls–’ is the best option — it’s clear Biden broke his promise there wouldn’t be any. In fact, spreading malarkey here, there and everywhere is the hallmark of his presidency, which is why his party is in a panic,” he continued.
“The last 16 months have provided endless examples that Biden is all malarkey, all the time,” Mr. Goodwin declared.
MR. POMPEO HAS A BOOK
Mike Pompeo is at work on a book, according to Publisher’s Weekly.
The former secretary of state and former CIA director is now penning his thoughts for Broadcast Books, the conservative imprint of Harper Collins — which has also published work by Fox News hosts Shannon Bream, Rachel Campos-Duffy and Jesse Watters and by conservative syndicated columnist Ben Shapiro.
The content is of note.
Mr. Pompeo will offer “a candid and thoughtful recounting of how the Trump administration navigated the world’s most pressing foreign policy challenges to deliver winning outcomes for the American people,” according to the publisher.
The book will arrive in November.
Mr. Pompeo, incidentally, is chairman of CAVPAC — Champion American Values PAC.
According to a mission statement, the political action committee is “in the battle to promote the conservative values upon which America was founded, push back against the ‘woke’ liberals who are shoving their ideology into our homes, schools, workplaces and communities, and lift to victory candidates across America who share our vision.”
GOVERNORS AND BORDERS
Republicans governors in 26 states recently formed the American Governors’ Border Strike Force — described as “a partnership across state lines to accomplish what the federal government has failed to do: Protect our communities from ruthless transnational criminal organizations.”
The push is led by Govs. Greg Abbott of Texas and Doug Ducey of Arizona — and their proactive stance is coming at an opportune moment, judging from the current immigration challenges. Here’s what U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents have faced, according to news releases made public by the federal agency on Friday:
Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents assigned to the Interstate Highway 35 checkpoint stopped a tractor-trailer just north of the Texas city to discover over 120 undocumented individuals inside, including unaccompanied children.
Officers at the Laredo Port of Entry also seized 1,761 pounds of methamphetamine worth over $35 million in a commercial truck hauling what was billed as “strawberry puree.”
Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents disrupted activities at two “human smuggling stash houses,” assisted four injured migrants who jumped out of a “fast-moving vehicle” in an escape attempt and encountered 116 “noncitizens” near La Grulla — consisting of 35 family members, 29 unaccompanied children, and 52 single adults.
This is a just partial listing of recent border encounters, by the way.
A COACH’S PRAYER
The Supreme Court will hear oral argument in a religious freedom case on Monday to decide whether a brief prayer that high school football coach Joseph Kennedy made midfield after games is protected or considered a coercive endorsement of religion.
Mr. Kennedy had been a football coach in the Bremerton School District of Washington state, and lost his job in 2015 over his prayers.
“After every football game, Coach Joseph Kennedy would take the time to pray. School officials urged him to halt the tradition and eventually suspended Kennedy from his job. They reasoned that failing to censor Kennedy’s prayer would amount to government endorsement of religion and would make onlookers uncomfortable,” reports Becket Law.
The nonprofit, public-interest law firm has filed a friend-of-the-court brief which emphasized that visible expressions of faith are common to many religious traditions and should be “protected, not barred, by the U.S. Constitution.”
The firm’s overall intent in their brief is “to emphasize the importance of protecting religious expression and the longstanding tradition of public prayer in our nation.”
Mr. Kennedy, a retired Marine, is represented at the Supreme Court by First Liberty Institute, Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Spencer Fane LLP, and The Helsdon Law Firm PLLC.
The case will be heard at 10 a.m. Monday.
POLL DU JOUR
• 63% of U.S. adults think the rate of inflation will go up over the next year.
• 58% think mortgage interest rates will go up in that time period, 57% think their personal monthly bills will increase.
• 54% think their taxes will rise; 34% say the number of unemployed people in the U.S. will increase.
• 25% think their household income, including wages and benefits, will increase.
• 24% think the total amount of their debt will increase; 22% say their own standard of living will improve.
SOURCE: An Ipsos poll of 927 U.S. adults conducted April 18-19.
• Follow Jennifer Harper on Twitter @HarperBulletin.
