Last week the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute held its annual ball, colloquially known

as the Met Gala. This is the fashion industry’s annual celebration of itself, and it is a seminal event in New York City. Tickets cost more than $30,000. This year’s Met Gala was attended by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). The unofficial leader of The Squad of young firebrand House progressives, AOC was resplendent in makeup, jewelry and a dress that cost more than most people’s cars. Across her backside were the words, ‘Tax the Rich’. AOC has been defending herself against allegations of hypocrisy and total lack of self-awareness ever since.

Also last week California Governor Gavin Newsom easily survived the state’s recall effort with 62.9 percent of Californians voting no on recall. This is not surprising. Once conservative radio talk show host Larry Elder became the main opponent, Newsom and the Dems could portray him as a rightwing extremist not aligned with ‘California Values’. California is a deep blue state and extremely pro-abortion and Newsom mercilessly slammed Elder for being pro-life. With their California victory, Democrats see a way forward in the 2022 midterm elections.

On the national scene Joe Biden’s agenda is stalled in congress. At issue are two spending bills. First among them is the $1.2 billion infrastructure bill passed by the Senate with Republican help. However this bill may die in the House of Representatives. Left wing Democrats led by Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) say they won’t vote for the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill until the Senate passes the second bill at issue, the massive $3.5 billion budget reconciliation bill. The reconciliation bill is loaded with items on the left’s wish list including universal Pre-K education, dental and metal health insurance and until this week amnesty for illegal aliens. The senate parliamentarian ruled that amnesty could not be included in a reconciliation budget bill, as amnesty has nothing to do with budget matters.

Passing the $3.5 billion reconciliation bill is proving difficult for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). As of this writing he only has 48 votes. The two holdouts are Krysten Sinema (D-Arizona) and Joe Manchin (D- West Virginia). Schumer must have both senator’s vote merely to get to a 50-50 tie in the senate.  Vice President Kamala Harris would cast the tie-breaking vote. Sinema has already told Pelosi to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill first or she’ll kill the $3.5 billion reconciliation budget bill. Manchin says he thinks the senate should put off the reconciliation bill till 2022. And just to complicate senate affairs further, the Treasury is about to bump up against the debt ceiling, which congress must raise so the Treasury can borrow more money to fund the government. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnel stated this week that since the Democrats felt no need to consult the GOP on the reconciliation budget bill, they would have to raise the debt ceiling without GOP support. ‘The debt ceiling will be raised as it always should be,’ McConnell said, ‘but it will be raised by the Democrats.’ A government shutdown looms.

While congress seeks to add trillions more to the national debt, America’s Southern border crisis worsens. This month thousands of illegal immigrants crossed the Rio Grande at Del Rio, Texas. Federal Authorities have gathered these illegals in a makeshift camp under the International Bridge. Estimates of how many illegals are in the camp vary, but many thousands are held there. With little food or water and no shelter, these illegals await processing by Federal immigration authorities. Thousands of these illegals came from Haiti and many resist deportation. In one case a group of illegal Haitians seized control of the bus taking them back to Mexico and escaped. In another a flight full of illegal Haitians refused to leave the plane once it touched down at Port au Prince.

Texas Governor Kurt Abbot called on President Biden to declare a state of emergency. He, Arizona Governor Doug Doocy, and 25 other Republican governors are demanding a meeting with Biden to talk about the border crisis. Del Rio Mayor Bruno Lozano a Democrat, slammed both Biden and Vice President Harris, who Biden put in charge of the border crisis. ‘The VP is able to visit the fun events across the country, while American communities continue to grapple with failed immigration reform. Where is the visit to Del Rio, TX?’ Tweeted Mayor Lozano. That Saturday the Vice President performed the ceremonial coin flip at the Howard University-Hampton University football game in Washington DC.

Having mentioned American college football, this observer would be remiss if he didn’t bring up what’s happening at college football games across the nation. Beginning the first week of the college football season, groups of unruly students saw fit to start obscene anti-Joe Biden chants. The phenomenon seems to have sprung up on campuses organically. There is no central organization and the chants weren’t planned. However the chants began, they are now a ‘thing’ and a regular occurrence at college football games. With Biden’s approval rating standing at 46% in the Real Clear Politics poll aggregate, there’s no reason to think the chants won’t last all season.