Names and faces
■ There weren’t a lot of laughs, but Joe Biden got some unsolicited advice from Jimmy Kimmel when he sat down for his first in-person interview with a late-night host since taking office. The host of ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” expressed frustration Wednesday night about the intractable problems in Washington, and he advised the president, “I think you need to start yelling at people.” Biden demurred, saying the country is still suffering from the effects of the pandemic, but he insisted he’s “never been more optimistic in my life.” Kimmel swiftly interjected: “Why are you so optimistic? It makes no sense!” Biden said he was pinning his hopes on young people, the “best-educated, least-prejudiced, most-giving generation in American history.” “This generation is going to change everything,” Biden said. “We just have to make sure we don’t give up.” Kimmel also asked about gun control, referencing the recent string of mass shootings. “I guess, I mean, just to get into it, why haven’t we done anything about this?” Biden responded that “this is not your father’s Republican Party,” and he blamed his political opposition for being too afraid to do anything about guns because they fear primary election challenges. Kimmel pressed Biden on whether he could use executive orders to increase gun control, noting that former President Donald Trump “passed them out like Halloween candy.” Although Biden has taken some unilateral steps on firearms, he said he wasn’t interested in stepping beyond the limits of his authority. “I don’t want to emulate Trump’s abuse of the Constitution and constitutional authority,” he said. Biden said he knows some people feel like “Republicans don’t play it square, why do you play it square?” “Well, guess what,” he said. “If we do the same thing they do, our democracy will literally be in jeopardy. Not a joke.” Kimmel responded, “It’s like you’re playing Monopoly with somebody who won’t pass go or won’t follow any of the rules, and how do you ever make any progress if they’re not following the rules?” “You’ve got to send them to jail,” Biden joked.
■ U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia will have a children’s book out this fall, a picture story based on his being one of 12 siblings. Philomel Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers, announced Thursday that Warnock’s “Put On Your Shoes and Get Ready!” will be published Nov. 15. “Growing up, my father told me and my siblings, every day, that we had to put on our shoes and get ready for what was in store,” Warnock said. “Whether it was church shoes on Sundays or basketball shoes for my brother, cheerleading shoes for my sister, or marching band shoes for me, no matter what else was going on, we put on our shoes and went out into the world and made things happen.” Warnock, senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, is Georgia’s first Black senator. His memoir, “A Way Out of No Way,” will be released next week.