The Inmates Are Running the Asylum Requests

Biden's Border Order, Age Defining Photos

The ink is barely dry on President Biden's executive order tightening border restrictions, but it's not too soon to predict that everyone will complain about it. Felonies, efforts to overturn elections, and the future viability of American democracy aside, the border is possibly the hottest hot button issue leading into the 2024 election. It was the first policy issue Trump brought up following his conviction. And a bipartisan Congressional bill to address the border was scuttled by the GOP after Trump indicated he didn't want Biden to have an election year legislative win. So today's executive order while something, is not the something we need. And getting the something we need seems impossible given a political landscape that borders on the absurd. "Facing mounting political pressure over the migrant influx at the U.S. southern border, President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed an executive order that will temporarily shut down asylum requestsonce the average number of daily encounters tops 2,500 between official ports of entry."

+ "The order will go into effect when the number of border encounters between ports of entry hits 2,500 per day, according to senior administration officials. That means Biden’s order should go into effect immediately, because that figure is higher than the daily averages now." AP: Biden rolls out migration order that aims to shut down asylum requests.

+ "Migrants who illegally cross the border will be largely blocked from asylum and could face fast-tracked deportation, according to U.S. officials. One senior administration official told reporters Tuesday that removal to Mexico or a migrant's home country could happen as fast as in a matter of hours under the new order." Axios: What Biden's new border action means for migrants. Two big hurdles: One, there's no new Congressional funding to implement the new policies. Two, there will be almost immediate court challenges to the order. Oh and three, this is a serious issue that demands serious consideration and we live in unserious times. (At least with the order signed, Biden can get back to a less politically fraught and divisive issue: Making peace in the Middle East.)

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A Picture is Worth 1000 Arguments

Look, these are not the 25 photos that defined the modern age because no one could pick the 25 photos that defined the modern age without choosing or omitting images in a way that will irritate, flummox, and otherwise perturb different people for different reasons. Now that we have have that out of the way, it's certainly interesting to look at one group's selection of influential photos. NYT (Gift Article): The 25 Photos That Defined the Modern Age.

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To the Nth Degree

I regularly have one of those dreams when it's the final exam for a college class I've failed to attend all semester (and I often can't even recall where the classroom is located). I can't imagine how many of these dreams Benjamin Bolger has. "Bolger has been to Harvard and Stanford and Yale. He has been to Columbia and Dartmouth and Oxford, and Cambridge, Brandeis and Brown. Over all, Bolger has 14 advanced degrees, plus an associate’s and a bachelor’s." (And he's still only within six degrees of Kevin Bacon.) Joseph Bernstein in the NYT Magazine (Gift Article): The Man Who Couldn’t Stop Going to College. "There’s something almost anachronistically earnest, even romantic, about the reason he gives for spending the past 30-odd years pursuing college degrees. 'I love learning,' he told me over lunch last year, without even a touch of irony. I had been pestering him for the better part of two days, from every angle I could imagine, to offer some deeper explanation for his life as a perpetual student. Every time I tried, and failed, I felt irredeemably 21st-century, like an extra in a historical production who has forgotten to remove his Apple Watch."

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Cowculator

"Brazil has hundreds of millions of cows, but one in particular is extraordinary. Her massive, snow-white body is watched over by security cameras, a veterinarian and an armed guard. Along a highway through Brazil’s heartland, Viatina-19’s owners have put up two billboards praising her grandeur and beckoning ranchers, curious locals and busloads of veterinary students to make pilgrimages to see the supercow." She’s the world’s most expensive cow, and part of Brazil’s plan to put beef on everyone’s plate.

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Extra, Extra

Modi Operandi: "Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has claimed a historic third win in a row in the country's parliamentary elections, but his ruling alliance appears to have failed to win a large majority as predicted." It's the one thing that unites the globe: Poor polling accuracy. Here are some photos of democracy in action as the world’s largest elections come to a close in India.

+ Political Violence in Mexico: "Gunmen have killed the female mayor of a town in Mexico just hours after the country celebrated the election of Claudia Sheinbaum as the nation's first woman president."

+ Tax Brakes: In today's depressing enabler news, here are some of the many billionaires rallying behind Trump after his conviction.

+ Miscarriage of Justice: "The trip was the beginning of a 24-hour race to get the woman additional abortion care while she bled until she lost consciousness on her bathroom floor." How a couple found themselves tangled in Texas’ strict abortion laws after miscarriage. (The border may be the hottest political issue, but this could be the decisive one in November.)

+ Kitty Roars Again "Shortly before Gill (known as Roaring Kitty) reignited a meme-stock craze in May, he bought a large volume of GameStop options on ETrade, the people said. This week, Gill posted screenshots of an ETrade account showing he owns GameStop shares now valued at $140 million and a new set of options that expire later this month. His total gains on the positions were at $85.5 million" ETrade Considers Kicking Meme-Stock Leader Keith Gill Off Platform. (It's incredible that meme-stocks are still a thing and that Roaring Kitty is still viewed as the cat's meow.)

+ Overturning Every Stone: Another day, another state, another indictment. Wisconsin attorney general charges three former Trump associates in plot to overturn 2020 election.

+ Novakancy: Novak Djokovic won back-to-back 5 set matches in the French Open, but had to drop out of the tournament due to a knee injury he suffered in the middle of one of the matches he won.

+ Left Holding the Bag: "A juror was dismissed Monday after reporting that a woman dropped a bag of $120,000 in cash at her home and offered her more money if she would vote to acquit seven people charged with stealing more than $40 million from a program meant to feed children during the pandemic." (Trump reading this on his phone: "Why didn't I think of that?")

+ Beast Mode: "The YouTuber told Time Magazine in February that he earns $600 to $700 million a year." MrBeast becomes YouTube's most subscribed channel.

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Bottom of the News

"The last time Igor De Santis ran for mayor in Ingria, a tiny village surrounded by forests and mountains near Turin, he won an easy landslide victory. But he faces a tough challenge in his bid for a fourth mandate, after his mother joined a rival camp." Italian village with 46 residents has 30 local election candidates.

+ Dr Pepper just passed Pepsi as the second biggest soda brand.