Just One Thing: Ken Buck, for now, blocks impeachment of Mayorkas (and that's fine)
In a dramatic vote yesterday, three House Republicans including Colorado’s Ken Buck, voted against impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. That caused the vote to be a tie initially which, per the rules of Congress, means that it would fail. Then another Republican switched from yes to no which allows the measure to be brought up again. For today, impeachment will not move to a trial in the Senate.
As if that's not dramatic enough, it actually looked as if the GOP had the votes to pass the impeachment 215-214 but then Democratic Rep Al Green (Texas) came from a hospital where he had had emergency abdominal surgery. While wearing blue hospital scrubs and tan socks, he cast the vote that made it a tie (which means it doesn't pass). That led to the 4th Republican "no" as described above for procedural reasons.
Nancy Pelosi was famous for not bringing a vote to the floor (that she wanted to win) without being certain she had the votes to win. So in addition to a loss on the vote itself, yesterday's result was a real embarrassment to GOP leadership, for the Whip (Rep Tom Emmer of MN) whose job it is to know what the vote count is.
Mayorkas is probably the worst cabinet secretary of my lifetime. He seems incompetent and he has repeatedly lied to Congress claiming that the border is under control. BUT, he’s simply implementing the policies of his boss, our terrible president, and it’s unclear that he should be impeached for doing so. There is zero chance of Mayorkas being convicted in the Senate so an impeachment would be a waste of time that would have made Republicans look bad, or look worse, to swing voters. Ken Buck may have saved the GOP from themselves. But only for a day.
Steve Scalise missed the vote so the GOP may bring this up again, probably even today, and when that 4th vote goes back to yes and then Scalise votes yes, impeachment will likely pass by one vote and the GOP may step once again into the mindless abyss of showing voters how much time they're willing to waste on Quixotic quests that achieve precisely nothing.
House GOP fails to impeach Mayorkas over border handling - Live Updates - POLITICO
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One More Thing: Bring back standardized testing for college applications
A few years ago a bunch of elite racists posing as anti-racists pushed colleges to stop requiring standardized testing in college applications. The argument was that kids who grow up in poor environments, often black and brown kids, do badly on standardized tests and also that the tests are themselves racist. It was always ridiculous but nobody wants to argue with angry virtue-signalers, especially if they’re not white, so lots of schools went along. As with other ongoing pushback against harmful woke policies, I’m please to tell you that Dartmouth college is now the first Ivy League school to bring back standardized testing. In fact, they say, as long as you contextualize, meaning understand if a kid comes from a rough neighborhood or mediocre school, few things better predict success in college than one’s SAT or ACT score. Score one for common sense.
Update To Testing Policy | Dartmouth Admissions
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Just a nice picture: A surfer (and rainbow) during the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in California on Sunday
Photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images
Today's Guests
Andrew "Art" Arthur is a senior fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies. He is a former INS prosecutor and associate general counsel, congressional staffer and staff director, and served for eight years as an immigration judge at the York Immigration Court in York, Pennsylvania. Art also served as a staff director to Chairmen Jason Chaffetz and Ron DeSantis on the National Security Subcommittee at House Oversight and Government Reform. We'll discuss the good and the (lot of, by his view) bad in the proposed immigration reform law.
Author: Andrew R. Arthur (cis.org)
The Good — and a Lot of Bad — in the Senate Border ‘Deal’ (cis.org)
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Tim Menard is the CEO and Founder of LYT, a Calif.-based traffic technology company that works with cities and municipalities on building AI into city-wide transit systems to create more efficiencies for bus transit and emergency first responder systems. We'll discuss the problems facing first responders given today’s traffic congestion, and how AI is modernizing traffic signals.
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Other Stuff
Karen Crumbley was found guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter for having provided her mentally ill son with the pistol that he used to kill four people at his school. As Dan Abrams noted on NewsNation last night, many attorneys he spoke with thought she would be acquitted but almost every caller to his radio show thought she'd be convicted.
Jury foreperson: Jennifer Crumbley was last adult with gun. That 'hammered it home'. (msn.com)
Interesting thought experiment pre-verdict: Witch hunt, or justice? Jennifer Crumbley's fate in jury's hands (azcentral.com)
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Wow: RNC Chair McDaniel has offered to step down following South Carolina primary | CNN Politics
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The Colorado Republican Party is a reprehensible shadow of what was once a worthwhile organization. I mean, it hasn't mattered much recently but at least most of the recent prior party chairs were decent humans who abided by a code of ethics.
Colorado Republicans Push Back Against Party's Support of Tina Peters | Westword
There’s no ethical line that CO GOP Chairman Dave Williams won’t cross. Why would he 1) endorse one candidate over another in a GOP primary and 2) ask people in this state to help that inappropriately endorsed candidate win in another state? Fwd: Help President Trump in Nevada (mailchi.mp)
And this:
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Donald Trump says it's time to start buying Bud Light again. I don't know what will happen tomorrow but on Tuesday, the shares of AB InBev (symbol BUD) jumped when Trump posted this on Truth Social (and it was further shared on Twitter/X)
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It's about time: Inside Denver airport's new "state-of-the-art" security checkpoint (msn.com)
Denver Airport gets 17 new security lanes — here's what you need to know - The Points Guy
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Speaking of airplanes, we expect the ultimate in quality control for products where an error can easily cost not just a life but lots of lives all at ones. This is beyond unacceptable.
Boeing 737 MAX Missing Critical Bolts in Alaska Airlines Blowout, NTSB Says - WSJ
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From Robert Bryce: Even with subsidies, the government can’t create sustained demand now that the early adopters have been satisfied
Ford Lost $4.7B On EVs Last Year, Or About $64,731 For Every EV It Sold (substack.com)
A fascinating and depressing story: How the Funeral Industry Got the FTC to Hide Bad Actors - WSJ
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A potential final nail in the coffin for cable TV: ESPN, Fox, Warner Bros. streaming deal: What viewers need to know (usatoday.com)
Cable TV's death knell (Axios.com)
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I owe you this from yesterday:
Can we PLEASE let tipping get back to normal?
Drink expert reveals how much you should tip a bartender — but will people do it? (nypost.com)
How Americans decide whether to leave a tip and how much | Pew Research Center
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Jews, please stop voting for Democrats: EDITORIAL: A cowardly cop-out by Colorado’s House speaker | Editorials | denvergazette.com
Reminds me a little of yesterday’s story about British MP who’s resigning because Islamists are threatening him.
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Today's Videos
A listener sent me this. First funny thing I've seen from SNL in quite a while. (Nate Bargatze is really funny...I hope he comes back to Comedy Works soon.)
Someone needs a better financial planner