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RINGSIDE POLITICS – JUNE 9, 2021

Written by on June 10, 2021

Welcome to another edition of Ringside Politics with Jeff Crouere

Today’s Hot Topics:

1) A sharp increase in the number of people crossing into the United States through remote desert areas along the U.S.-Mexico border has officials and rights advocates worried that this summer will be especially lethal, with the potential for a spike in migrant deaths.

Much of the Biden administration’s border response in recent months has centered on caring for the unaccompanied minors who have arrived in record numbers, along with parents traveling with children. Those groups do not typically attempt to evade capture, and they usually seek out U.S. agents after crossing the border to request humanitarian protection.

2) Some White House officials are “perplexed” by Kamala Harris’ comments in which she defended not yet visiting the US-Mexico border and worry that they might overshadow her first foreign trip as vice president, CNN reported this week.

Harris visited Guatemala and Mexico earlier this week as part of her efforts to address illegal immigration into the US.

On Tuesday, NBC News aired Harris’ interview with Lester Holt in which she said she hadn’t visited the US-Mexico border as vice president because she was in charge of dealing with the “root causes” of Central American migrants coming to the US.

“We are going to the border. We’ve been to the border,” Harris said.

“You haven’t been to the border,” Holt said. Harris responded, “And I haven’t been to Europe.”

3) A defiant Dr. Anthony Fauci on Wednesday lashed out at critics calling for his ouster, blasting their “preposterous” and “painfully ridiculous” attacks and defending his record as a leading official battling the coronavirus pandemic.

Such “attacks on me are, quite frankly, attacks on science,” Fauci said in an interview with NBC News’ Chuck Todd. “People want to fire me or put me in jail for what I’ve done — namely, follow the science.”

4) President Joe Biden’s 2022 budget proposal uses language that supplants the word “mothers,” referring to women who both deliver a baby and raise the child, with the phrase “birthing people.”

“The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed nations, with an unacceptably high mortality rate for Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, and other women of color,” the provision reads. The section begins by incorporating gender-specific terms such as “maternal” and “women of color” but then reverts to gender-neutral wording later in the paragraph.

Biden’s budget would allocate over $200 million in funding “to help end this high rate of maternal mortality and race-based disparities in outcomes among birthing people.” The paragraph then jumps back to using “maternal health” and “maternal morbidity,” terms which refer to motherhood. Also included in that $200 million allotment are investments to “implement implicit bias training for healthcare providers.”

Today’s Guests:

1) Ted Harvey; Chairman of Committee to Defeat the President

2) John Milkovich, Attorney, Former LA State Senator

3) Steve Konos, Ringside Politics Creative Director; Ringside Politics Parody of the Week

4) Josh Bernstein, Ringside All-Star, Josh Bernstein Uncensored