Crooked Media - What A Day: Rubbing Laxalt in the wound

 -JD Vance, pride of the Ohio GOP

The prospect of Republican Supreme Court justices eliminating the right to abortion has already shifted political ground, and—shockingly—not in a way that leaves the anti-Roe v. Wade party on surer footing.

• Democrats have responded to the now-infamous leaked opinion in two ways: First, by training fire on the GOP for criminalizing abortion; second with a bit of vintage Democratic Party infighting. At the White House, President Joe Biden wondered aloud what other rights the Supreme Court would eliminate, warning “this MAGA crowd is really the most extreme political organization that’s existed in…recent American history.” Groovy.
   
• In the Senate, Democrats filed a new version of the Women’s Health Protection Act, slightly modified to peel off GOP support from Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). But there’s some doubt whether Susan is Concerned enough to actually vote for a bill that would codify Roe, and in any case, both of those senators, along with the dread duo of Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, still oppose making changes to the filibuster rules that would allow abortion-rights legislation to pass. 
   
• On the trail, grassroots Democrats hope to exploit the leaked opinion to drive a wedge between House Democratic leaders and Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX)—the last anti-abortion Democrat in the House, who also happens to be under FBI investigation. Cuellar’s primary challenger, Jessica Cisneros, has asked those leaders to withdraw their stubborn support for him, noting among other things that he could ultimately “be the deciding vote on the future of our reproductive rights.”

Republican views on the whole situation are…a bit murkier. 

• On the one hand, the farthest-right Republicans in the country are champing at the bit for abortion to become a crime in half the country, and then to turn their efforts into making it a crime nationwide. Republicans in Oklahoma (which had become a refuge state for Texan women seeking abortion) have just enacted a six-week abortion ban. And influential right-wing media figures keep explaining that the next step is to overturn rights to everything from same-sex marriage to racial equality.
   
• But frontline Republicans are more like NOTHING TO SEE HERE! Read this hilarious story about Republican senators trying to will their dirty work out of existence by saying ridiculous word vomit. Or read this statement from Adam Laxalt, the Republican Senate candidate in Nevada, hailing the prospective anti-Roe ruling as “a historic victory” while demurring that abortion rights are “settled law” in his state. Congratulations to his neighbors in Arizona, Utah, and Idaho?

A Ukrainian counteroffensive has slowed the pace of Russian attacks on civilians in Kharkiv to a trickle, and allowed Ukrainian forces to retake control of surrounding villages. Their efforts have been so effective that residents of heavily bombarded parts of the city have been able to emerge from hiding, and reopen their restaurants and coffee shops. Though undoubtedly good news, these kinds of setbacks for Russia seem to have increased concerns among western military and intelligence officials that Russian President Vladimir Putin will use his country’s May 9 Victory Day holiday as an occasion to declare open war (which would allow him to mobilize many more war resources) or even unleash chemical weapons attacks on Ukrainian forces and civilians.

• House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, aka the most secretly recorded man in the world, was secretly recorded after the insurrection lamenting that using the 25th Amendment to remove Donald Trump from power would “take too long,” which isn’t quite consistent with his earlier claim that he wasn’t angling to remove Trump from power. 
   
• The official COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. has now surpassed one-million. 
   
• The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates a substantial one-half of one percent as part of its effort to curb inflation. 
   
• Donald Trump, Jr., testified to the House January 6 committee. 
   
• Another member of the Oath Keepers has pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy for his role in the January 6 insurrection. 
   
• The only federal judge to have dismissed obstruction of Congress charges against January 6 insurrectionists is strongly reconsidering, in response to a request from federal prosecutors who point out all other judges who’ve heard the argument disagree with his interpretation of the law.  
   
• Gird your loins, but Joe Manchin’s GOP negotiating partners don’t actually seem interested in doing a bipartisan energy bill. 
   
• Elon Musk is so committed to the idea of Twitter as a permanent bastion of free speech that he plans to lose as much money as necessary to preserve the public square strip it for parts and take it public again in a couple years. 
   
• India wants Russia to sell its oil at a discount, to compensate for the injury India suffers in the eyes of the world for doing business with Russia. Incredible free-rider energy from Narendra Modi. 
   
• Seems like you can’t get anywhere in GOP politics these days unless you’ve assaulted at least one former spouse. 
   
• A man identified as Isaiah Lee tried to attack Dave Chapelle on stage at the Hollywood Bowl last night, and as Chapelle’s security restrained and beat him, Chris Rock grabbed the mic from Chapelle and said “was that Will Smith?” Really happened.

Absent a fortuitous COVID-19 mutation that is both harmless and able to out-compete all other variants, the best medium-term hope for getting control over pesky Omicron variants, and their big, deadly waves of breakthrough infections, may be nasal vaccines. There are actually eight different nasal vaccines in clinical trials, three of which have reached the final testing phase. They’re administered like familiar, over-the-counter nasal sprays and are designed to activate both systemic and “mucosal” immunity, which should block COVID-19 by killing the virus when it embeds in mucosal tissue, before it causes infection. However, scientists know relatively little about mucosal immunity to begin with, and unlike shots in arms, which place vaccine directly in muscle tissue every time, nasal-spray vaccines are subject to greater human error, and, even when administered correctly, must be designed to penetrate mucosal lining with certainty—a challenge that some manufacturers have found difficult to overcome.

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Democrat Carol Glanville flipped a deep red Michigan House district, defeating her Republican opponent, Robert Regan, a degenerate bigot and conspiracy theorist who became particularly infamous for saying rape victims should "lie back and enjoy it." MAGA extremism is a liability for Republicans.

A House Freedom Caucus-backed right-wing maniac lost his primary in Indiana. MAGA extremism is a liability for Republicans.

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) will face J.R. Majewski, a QAnon conspiracy theorist and insurrection supporter who won the GOP primary last night, in the general election. MAGA extremism is a liability for Republicans.

More companies say they'll help their workers in red and purple states access abortions.