Friday Edition

There’s a trend of cities pushing symbolic policies with questionable real-world benefits. (Washington Examiner)

The latest: Chicago lawmakers passed a bill Tuesday that would change the term “offender” to “justice impacted individual” in a state-run criminal rehabilitation program.

Republican state Sen. Terri Bryant: “Over and over again, we keep changing the name of how we are referring to those who have entered into criminal activity and each time we make that change, each agency has to make that change on every one of their documents. Right now, in the Department of Corrections, there’s multiple changes that have been made, and it’s costing thousands and thousands of dollars just to do a name change.”

It’s not just name-changes: As of March, at least 100 U.S. cities and towns had formally adopted resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, which lies thousands of miles away.

• Major cities like Atlanta, Detroit, Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco have all passed resolutions.

• Videos showing residents celebrating the passage of ceasefire measures have circulated widely on social media.

More and more cities are issuing "land acknowledgements" officially recognizing that parts of the city once belonged to Native American tribes.

A resolution passed by Tempe, Arizona in 2021: “We wish to acknowledge that Tempe is the homeland of the Native people who have inhabited this landscape since time immemorial.”

Bubba’s Two Cents

Well intentioned? We’ll give the benefit of the doubt. Impactful? It’s hard to see how they’re anything more than a token gestures. At worst they’re a waste of time and resources. I suspect people would rather see tangible progress in their own communities…

New York Times senior writer David Leonhardt has written a concise breakdown of how President Biden’s policies led to the current immigration crisis. (NYT)

Biden’s campaign vows: “He campaigned in 2020 promising not only to undo Trump’s cruel policies — such as family separation — but also to welcome more migrants. After taking office, he signed executive orders to do both.”

Biden in office: “Biden tried to pause deportations. He changed the definition of asylum to include fear of gang violence. He used immigration parole — which the law says should be used ‘on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons’ — to admit hundreds of thousands of people.”

The message Biden sent: “Would-be migrants, as well as the Mexican cartels that run transit networks, heard a clear message: Entering the United States had become easier. The number of people attempting to do so spiked almost immediately.”

As Leonhardt notes, Biden’s not solely responsible for the migrant surge.

• The pandemic, as well as political and economic crises in Latin America, also played a role.

The latest: Amid rising voter concerns about immigration, the president will reportedly announce new border executive orders next month.

New polling reveals widespread misconceptions among Americans about the state of the economy. (The Guardian)

A new Harris-Guardian survey:

• 56% think the U.S. is in a recession.

• 49% believe stocks are down this year.

• 49% think unemployment is at a 50-year high.

• A majority of Americans, including 61% of Democrats, think inflation is increasing.

The reality:

• GDP has grown for 7 straight quarters.

• The S&P 500 is up 12%.

• The unemployment rate has been under 4% for the longest stretch since the 1960s.

• For the past year, inflation has stabilized between 3% to 4%.

So there’s no denying Americans are getting some objective facts about economic conditions wrong.

But that doesn’t mean consumers’ generally pessimistic feelings about the economy are necessarily unfounded (as many journalists are claiming).

Exhibit A: Adjusted for inflation, net worth (assets like stocks, bonds, cash and property, minus debts) increased by 0.7% under Biden versus 16% under Trump.

The latest polling shows Donald Trump leading President Biden in nearly every swing state. (Cook Political Report)

A new Cook Political Report/GS Strategy Group/BSG poll:

• Key issues for swing state voters: 73% rank inflation/cost of living as top issue, 52% rank immigration/border security, 35% rank abortion/reproductive rights.

• State-specific results: Trump leads in all swing states except Wisconsin (tied at 45%). Largest leads in North Carolina (+7) and Nevada (+9).

The Cook Political poll matches trends in other recent polls.

• Emerson College (April): Trump leads Biden in Arizona (+5), Georgia (+3), North Carolina (+7), Pennsylvania (+2), and Wisconsin (+1).

• Redfield & Wilton Strategies (May): Trump leads Biden in all six polled swing states, with notable leads in Florida (+9) and narrower leads in Arizona and Pennsylvania (+2 each).

• Echelon Insights (May): Trump holds a 7-point lead over Biden in key swing states, with 48% supporting Trump and 41% for Biden.