I’m still looking for the surge of thousands of immigrants who were supposedly going to “rush the border” the minute that Title 24 was lifted. But as of Saturday, the border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm, offering few signs of the chaos that was predicted after the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions.
“We did not see any substantial increase in immigration this morning,” said Blas Nunez-Neto assistant secretary for border and immigration policy at the Department of Homeland Security. He said the agency did not have specific numbers. — AP
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OTD in 1988 — Soviet retreat from Afghanistan
By 1988, nine years after they invaded, the Soviets decided to extricate themselves from Afghanistan. Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev saw the Afghan invasion and occupation as an increasing drain on the Soviet economy, and the Russian people were tired of a war that many Westerners referred to as “Russia’s Vietnam.” Now they’re saying that about Ukraine.
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Weekend Quotables
Fiona Hill, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution
The war is now effectively…a proxy for a rebellion by Russia and the "Rest" against the United States. The war in Ukraine is perhaps the event that makes the passing of Pax Americana apparent to everyone. — 2023 Lennart Meri Lecture
Dan Gibbons, as Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson takes office today
“There’s no honeymoon in mayoral politics or city governments,” said Gibbons, CEO of the City Club of Chicago and a former staffer for the city’s longest-serving mayor, Richard M. Daley. “Everyone has your phone number, you get the blame and you don’t get the credit.” — AP
Transition Team member, Kofi Ademola, the co-founder of GoodKids MadCity
“We know police are interventionists. They come after something has happened. We want it so things don’t happen in the first place. We know the community can take care of itself without intervention from police if given the right resources.” — WGN
Andy Gloor, Sterling Bay CEO (flips the 4-year-old narrative)
Mayor Lori Lightfoot “put a brake on our entire project,” he said in an interview Monday, adding that the delays set the project back by three years…“I can’t say enough just of my initial meetings with Brandon [Johnson] and his team,” he said. “I’m super encouraged that he understands the importance of these large developments for Chicago.” — Bloomberg
Fred Klonsky on Mother’s Day
Mom believed in a parent’s rights when it came to schools, but she also would have had no trouble smelling the racist, homophobic bullshit that the current so-called parent rights movement represents. — Fred Klonsky in Retirement
Neil Steinberg
Then, governors in the South vowed to abolish public schools rather than integrate them. Now we have school vouchers, so white parents can walk away from the public school system on the taxpayer dime. — Review of King: A Life
Tom Nichols
CNN “went full Jerry Springer.” Its town hall with Donald Trump was a “cringe-inducing display that damaged CNN’s reputation, put one of its rising stars in a no-win situation, cheapened journalism, and undermined our political process.” — The Atlantic
Aaron Rupar & Lisa Needham
Hugo Chavez has been dead since 2013, but he apparently remains a right-wing fixation. — Public Notice
Weekend Quotables
Why is it that my left parents were right? How much do we really know about the Chinese people? Ali also was right that those brown, yellow, red, black, blue, and purple folks are just people...like me.