🥵 🐦 Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and other conservatives have blasted Sesame Street favorite Big Bird for claiming to have gotten a COVID vaccine in what they say is propaganda to encourage kids to get the shot.

The fictional bird, who, according to Sesame Street lore, is eternally 6-years-old, tweeted his vaccination status on Saturday, writing: 'I got the COVID-19 vaccine today! My wing is feeling a little sore, but it'll give my body an extra protective boost that keeps me and others healthy.'

🐶 The Los Angeles Police Department released body-camera footage Saturday showing an officer shoot a less than lethal bean bag round at a pit bull while responding to calls for service last week.

The department said it released the video after learning about "news media reports where the resident called into question the officers’ conduct during this call for service and alleged the Bean Bag discharge was not appropriate." As an internal investigation, which the department says includes as a "thorough review" of all body-worn video, continues, the chief of police said he "wishes to share a Body Worn Video clip as a means to promote trust and transparency into this incident and inform the public."

🤯 San Francisco residents have expressed their outrage after the San Francisco Chronicle asked in Twitter last week whether locals “should tolerate burglaries as a part of city living, and focus on barricading homes.”

California, and San Francisco in particular, has long been in the spotlight for an unprecedented crime surge that has been recorded amid declining living standards statewide, the global pandemic and skyrocketing rates of people dying from armed violence across the US.

Place your bets!

▪️ Former Vice President Mike Pence has expressed confidence that the Republican party is "going to win back this country in 2024".

That, unfortunately, was the only clue Pence provided about his possible run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, as he spoke at the Republican Jewish Coalition's annual leadership gathering in Las Vegas on Saturday evening.

🤬 Considering the audience at the event, in his speech, the former vice president continued to criticize Biden's handling of his relationship with Israel.

"Make no mistake about it, President Joe Biden has turned his back on Israel," Pence stressed.

Pence also asserted that "America is a nation in crisis" under Biden's leadership.

OMG 😳

Very sad that the RINOs in the House and Senate gave Biden and Democrats a victory on the “Non-Infrastructure” Bill, where only 11% of the money being wasted goes to real infrastructure. How about all of those Republican Senators that voted thinking that helping the Democrats is such a wonderful thing to do, so politically correct. They just don’t get it! Now they’ll go for the big kill—getting their second $1.9 Trillion Bill (really $5 Trillion) approved, again with RINO support. All Republicans who voted for Democrat longevity should be ashamed of themselves, in particular Mitch McConnell, for granting a two month stay which allowed the Democrats time to work things out at our Country’s, and the Republican Party’s, expense!

Ted Cruz has just tweeted a GIF

Are you scared?

🔺 This mom and independent voter from Virginia is voting for Republican Glenn Youngkin "because of schools."

"I have some friends that are Democrats who have never voted red in their life—and this time they voted every red box they could find."

💣 🎓 Ivy League schools - Columbia, Cornell and Brown - reported bomb threats and ordered evacuations on Sunday. Columbia University later said the bomb threat was deemed not credible by the NYPD. Brown University has also been cleared.

📉 Biden's approval rating has fallen to 38 percent after it had been hovering in the low 40s in recent polls.

President Biden's approval rating continued to sink in a new poll released on Sunday, following weeks of drama on Capitol Hill regarding his legislative agenda and the party's losses in Virginia on Tuesday.

The poll was conducted by USA Today and Suffolk University between Wednesday and Friday of last week, just before Democrats passed an infrastructure bill and advanced a social spending package.

💉 A Springfield School District 186 teacher who had been in defiance of a state mandate requiring teachers to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccinations or submit to weekly testing said she has informed the district that she is vaccinated.

"I didn't want to have to produce a vaccination card because I don't think that's legal or appropriate, but if you ask me to choose between my personal beliefs and my students, my students will win," Koen said.

What a twist!

One of the people who got injured at the Astroworld music festival in Texas is suing Travis Scott and the organizers over their inability to prevent the tragic deaths at the event. Manuel Souza says the crowd surge was a “motivation for profit at the expense of concertgoers' health and safety".

🇺🇸 Former US President Donald Trump has denounced Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell over the infrastructure bill.

🔎 “Very sad that the RINOs in the House and Senate gave Biden and Democrats a victory on the ‘Non-Infrastructure’ Bill, where only 11% of the money being wasted goes to real infrastructure,” Trump said, adding that “Republicans who voted for Democrat longevity should be ashamed of themselves, in particular Mitch McConnell.”

❗ Paul Whelan, a citizen of the US, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom who was arrested in Russia in December 2018, tried to obtain information about students attending the FSB school, according to the prosecutor

🇺🇸US President Joe Biden has thanked Big Bird from Sesame Street for vaccinating against COVID-19.