Extra, Extra
Still Top Banana in Indiana: “The threats weren’t just political. Leading up to the vote, state senators faced bomb scares. Police drew guns on one state senator in his home based on a false report. Days later, an officer showed up at Deery’s door after receiving a similar bogus report … The primaries would test how much dissent Republican voters would tolerate. A victory by Trump’s side would send one of the strongest messages yet that even Republicans in the lower rungs of politics could face career-ending blows if they disobey a president who long ago remade their party.” WaPo (Gift Article): After defying Trump, a Republican lawmaker hangs on by a thread. And he’s doing better than his colleagues who defied the president’s Indiana redistricting efforts. The Indiana results show Trump’s continued hold on his party. The big question is how that will impact the general election.
+ Pro Shingles: “The withdrawal of the studies is the latest step by the administration to try to limit access to vaccines. It has sharply cut research funding for vaccine development, released unvetted information casting doubt on vaccines, and blocked other information supporting their safety, most recently a paper on Covid vaccine effectiveness by career scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” NYT (Gift Article): F.D.A. Blocked Publication of Research Finding Covid and Shingles Vaccines Were Safe. (This is exactly why, in yesterday’s lead item, I explained that, while a conversation about antidepressants is worthwhile, having one with this administration is worse than useless: Psychotropic Thunder.)
+Reality Deficiency: “Many of them are doing so out of a well-meaning but ill-informed abundance of caution. In the hopes of safeguarding their newborns from what they see as unnecessary medical intervention, they have shunned fundamental and scientifically sound pharmaceutical intervention. The trend is also fueled by a contradictory pairing: families’ fierce desire to protect their babies and a cascade of false information infused into their social media algorithms.” ProPublica: Babies Are Bleeding to Death as Parents Reject a Vitamin Shot Given at Birth.
+ Ted Talks: “I’m trying to set the all-time record for achievement by one person in one lifetime. And that puts you in pretty big company: Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Gandhi, Christ, Mohammed, Buddha, Washington, Roosevelt, Churchill.” He didn’t quite hit that level, but he did a lot. NYT (Gift Article): Ted Turner, Creator of CNN and the 24-Hour News Cycle, Dies at 87.
+ Room Where It Happened: “The money would go toward security improvements as part of an East Wing construction project, including a new ballroom that President Trump has said would be built with private dollars.” G.O.P. Proposes $1 Billion in Immigration Bill for Trump’s Ballroom Project. (We should just call it a room, because the president’s sycophants have proven there are no balls left in Washington.)
+ Seed Bank: “The public suit includes graphic and extensive details of his allegations that a more senior banker on the team repeatedly demanded to have sex with him, often with racial insults mixed in, and threatened his career advancement if he didn’t engage. He alleged she forcibly performed oral sex on him and that they had sex only under duress while he begged her not to.” JPMorgan offered $1 million settlement before sexual assault claims went viral.
