* “The war in Ukraine does not have anything to do with Ukraine. The war in Ukraine was designed to cause regime change in Moscow.” That was *ucker Carlson of Fox News. Yes, it has played well in Russia.
* “Disney says its streaming platform, Disney+, has been adding subscribers—thus avoiding a Netflix-like collapse.
* Shouldn’t they be the Toronto Maple Leaves?
* “Laws DON’T Change the # of ABORTIONS; They Change the # of SAFE ABORTIONS. Not Very “Pro-Life” of You.”–Abortion rights demonstrators protesting in front of the Supreme Court.
* “I Am Not An Incubator.”
* “If You Want To Stop Abortions, Get A Vasectomy.”
* “Keep Your ROSARIES Off My Ovaries.”
* You know a sports franchise—such as the Lightning—is very successful when playoff disappointment means no dynasty.
* “Excited, but a lot of unfinished business on the field with the (Bucs).”–Tom Brady, on signing a 10-year, NFL analyst deal with Fox Sports that will kick in upon his retirement.
* Elon Musk says he would “reverse the permanent ban” of Donald Trump from Twitter if he concludes his deal to acquire the social media company for $44 billion. (Twitter had banned Trump’s account in Jan. 2021 for “incitement of violence” regarding the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.)
* “Mr. Trump has a hold on about a third of the party: You win or lose with that third. The Republican Party as an entity, and a solid portion of its voters, is utterly divided.”–Peggy Noonan, WSJ.
* Those looking for further signs of a Trump-Pence split, need look no further than the gubernatorial race in Georgia. Trump is backing former Sen. David Perdue against incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, a top target of Trump’s for 2022 defeat. Plus, a number of high-profile Republicans, some former Trump supporters, are jumping in to help Kemp, the Republican Governors Association has made the unusual move of running ads backing Kemp and former President George W. Bush is headlining an upcoming Kemp fundraiser. The bottom line: Neither Donald Trump nor Mike Pence, for different reasons, ever got over Jan. 6.
* Regardless of what Sam Alito & SCOTUS accomplices think about undoing Roe v. Wade, it’s sobering to consider that the U.S. already has the highest rates of maternal mortality in the industrialized world.
* Of the 22 states with abortion bans that will instantly take effect if Roe is overturned, 10 have passed laws that make no exceptions for rape or incest. The terminating 10: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
* “By joining NATO, Finland strengthens its own security and assumes its responsibility. … (Finland wants) to take care of the practical questions arising from being a neighbor of Russia in a correct and professional manner.”–Sauli Ninistro, president of Finland, which shares a 810-mile long border with Russia.
* “We believe that Russia should be officially recognized as a state sponsor of terrorism.”–Ukraine President Zolodymyr Zelenskyy.
* “We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kind of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.”–Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
* “They’re not conducting a legitimate investigation.”–House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, on subpoenas issued to him and others by the Jan. 6 insurrection committee—and why they haven’t felt compelled to cooperate.
* “Would have very damaging effects on the economy and would set women back decades.”–Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on the impact of eliminating the right to access abortion services.
* “What we are calling for is a total ban, no exceptions. We don’t think abortion is ever necessary to save the life of the mother.”–Matt Sande, legislative director of Pro-Life Wisconsin. Yes, he really said that.
* “What happened at the Court is tremendously bad. I wonder how long we’re going to have these institutions at the rate we’re undermining them.”–SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas, on the leak of the Roe v. Wade draft opinion.
* “There is a real movement to suppress the expression of anything that opposes the secular orthodoxy.”–Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, 2021.
* “The Founding Fathers would be less surprised that there’s a popular musical about Alexander Hamilton than they would be that, in an age of space travel, the internet and in vitro fertilization, the majority of the Court is relying on a literal interpretation of a document conceived in the agrarian 1780s.”–Maureen Dowd, New York Times.
* “The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself.”–The late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y.
* “It might be a game-changer.”–Marty Newell, coordinator for Rural Broadband Policy at the Center for Rural Strategies in Whitesburg, Ky., on President Biden’s announcement of discounted internet service for low-income Americans.
* “The aggressive, disruptive and unforgiving mindset that characterizes so much of our politics has found a home in many American churches.”–Peter Wehner, The Atlantic.
* “The fight over congressional districts now shifts from the statehouse to the courthouse.”–Ben Diamond, a St. Petersburg Democrat and a member of the Florida House.
In the biggest leak since Deep Throated Watergate and the Pentagon Papers publication, the SCOTUS draft opinion of Justice Samuel Alito is now part of the polarizing public record–and a precursor of the Court likely striking down Roe v. Wade.
It’s a sobering, Machiavellian reminder that even on an issue such as a woman’s bodily autonomy–one that polls show most Americans agree with–presidents have a workaround with Supreme Court nominations. As a result of Donald Trump’s right-wing-appointments legacy, the Court is now perversely politicized. John Roberts is no longer even a swing vote. It’s likely we’ll have more red states, with Florida obviously no exception, that will push the anti-abortion agenda even further legislatively.
Call it a democratic inflection point for the ultimate in women’s rights. One that comes at a time when the Democratic Party faces fraught mid-terms behind a scuffling, incumbent president.
It doesn’t sound very progressive for Democrats to fall in line–and not in love–but that is what’s required if the Dems are to do everything possible to prevent reversing a half century of settled law of the land. That means rallying around Roe for America to choose choice and female freedom over the criminalization of abortion.
It also means an issue so galvanizing that it could even avert a worst-case mid-term scenario for the Dems—and help reduce the fundraising gap with GOPsters. With that in mind, let’s not forget the idealistic hissy fitters who enabled Trump by staying home in 2016 because Hillary Clinton—not Bernie Sanders—was their party’s presidential nominee. That has to be an ongoing, teachable moment, and Democrats have to be relentless in tying Republicans to women’s-rights denigration.
“You can’t just talk about it now.” emphasizes Florida state Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando. “You have to keep talking about it because what we don’t want to happen is for this to fall off people’s radars.”
In short, if Roe v. Wade can be overturned, nothing is off the table. And that includes reversing right wing-nut momentum.
* Karine Jean-Pierre has replaced Jen Psaki as White House press secretary. She is the first black woman and openly LGBTQ person to serve in that role. She had been Psaki’s deputy press secretary. Jean-Pierre is a former political analyst with NBC and MSNBC. Psaki will be joining MSNBC.
* First Lady Jill Biden visited Ukraine and met up with her counterpart, Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska, to literally and symbolically show continued support for Ukraine.
* “The only thing that could save us is if the Republicans nominate a bunch of far-right crazies that are unacceptable in a general election.”–Ohio Democratic strategist Dale Butland.
* The W.H.O. estimates that nearly 15 million people died due to the coronavirus or because of factors attributed to the pandemic.
* An estimated 1.5 million retirees have re-entered the U.S. labor market over the past year. Millions of older Americans had stopped working during the pandemic.
* Less than half of vaccinated Floridians are boosted. Booster shots, as we’ve been informed, are the best protection against severe illness and death from the latest variants.
* Total U.S. population that is boosted: 26 percent. Total Florida population that is boosted: 30 percent.
* Positivity: Florida—13 percent; Hillsborough County—8 percent.
* Attorney General Ashley Moody, recently noted that 21 people die every day in Florida because of opioid abuse. AG Moody also announced that Walgreens had settled with the state to the tune of $683 million over its role in contributing to the epidemic.
* Travel demand to Florida has outpaced the rest of the nation during the pandemic recovery.
* The Gulf of Mexico accounts for about 14 percent of the U.S.’s crude oil production.