McConnell, Grimes trade jabs as a political picnic serves up snark in Kentucky Senate race
FANCY FARM, Ky. — For a church picnic, the congregation at Fancy Farm is anything but reverent.
Hundreds of people flocked to this small western Kentucky town on Saturday to cheer and jeer their way through speeches from Republican Mitch McConnell and Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes at a church fundraiser that doubles as the official start of Kentucky’s campaign season.
Some Republican supporters carried signs touting “Alison’s dilemma … be a devout Democrat or a real Catholic.” On the Democratic side, a supporter held a sign asking “What would Jesus do? Vote 4 Grimes.”
Competing in one of the most-watched Senate races in the country, McConnell and Grimes put some snark of their own in their usual campaign rhetoric — and sat just a few feet away from each other in a rare joint appearance. So far, their expensive campaign has been waged mostly through TV ads and news releases.
While Grimes, a Catholic, and McConnell, a Baptist, have hardly mentioned faith in their pitches for votes, religion was on display in the parish of the St. Jerome Catholic Church almost as much as the barbecue served up to picnickers and politicos.
Mom said ‘Thank you, Jesus’ after examiner ruled police chokehold caused man’s death
NEW YORK — After her son was placed in a police chokehold and died saying, “I can’t breathe,” Gwen Carr would wake up screaming, “Let him go! Give him air!” she said Saturday. When she heard his death had been ruled a homicide, she said, her first words were, “Thank you, Jesus!”
Carr and eight other relatives of the late Eric Garner attended a rally in Manhattan led by the Rev. Al Sharpton that celebrated the homicide ruling issued Friday by the city medical examiner.
Sharpton said the ruling is “probable cause” for the quick arrest of Officer Daniel Pantaleo, the white police officer who used the chokehold on Garner, who was black, on July 17 on Staten Island.
Sharpton said the Staten Island district attorney, Daniel Donovan, “needs to say, ‘I’m moving forward to an arrest’ or ‘I’m deferring to the federal government.’”
Garner’s widow, Esaw Garner, added, “I just want them to do the right thing and give me justice for my husband.”
Conservatives help House pass tougher border bill, Obama condemns plan
WASHINGTON — House Republicans passed legislation late Friday to address the crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border by sending migrant youths back home without hearings, winning over conservatives with a companion bill that could lead to deporting more than half a million immigrants whom the Obama administration granted temporary work permits. President Barack Obama condemned the Republican action and said he’d act unilaterally, as best he could.
A day after GOP leaders pulled the border bill from the floor in a chaotic retreat, tea party lawmakers were enthusiastically on board with the new $694 million version and a companion measure that would shut off a program created by Obama granting work permits to immigrants brought here illegally as kids. The second bill also seemed designed to prevent the more than 700,000 people who’ve already gotten work permits under the program from renewing them, ultimately making them subject to deportation.
The spending bill passed 223-189 late Friday, with only four Republicans voting “no” and one Democrat voting “yes.” The measure ending Obama’s deportation relief program passed 216-192, with 11 Republican “no” votes and four Democrats crossing party lines to vote in favor.
“It’s dealing with the issue that the American people care about more than any other, and that is stopping the invasion of illegal foreign nationals into our country,” said Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. “And we got to yes.”
But Obama said no. “They’re not even trying to solve the problem,” the president said. “I’m going to have to act alone, because we do not have enough resources.”
By wire sources
