Top Russian Official Warns of Nuclear War
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, said growing NATO arms supplies and Ukraine troop training increases the “risk of such conflict turning into a full-scale nuclear war, a scenario that will be catastrophic for all,” USA Today reports.
Meatpackers Hyped ‘Baseless’ Shortage to Stay Open
“The biggest players in the U.S. meat industry pressed ‘baseless’ claims of beef and pork shortages early in the pandemic to persuade the Trump White House to keep processing plants running, disregarding the coronavirus risks that eventually killed at least 269 workers,” the Washington Post reports.
Primary Alarm Bells for Multiple House Incumbents
David Wasserman: “Across the spectrum, voters are restless. On the right, moderate GOP House incumbents are contending with an angry former president who wants to purify the party of people who have crossed him. Democratic primary voters are furious over the possible end of Roe v. Wade. And voters of all stripes are anxious about everything from the cost of gas and groceries to infant formula shortages and instability abroad.”
“This is not a pro-incumbent mood. Combine that with redistricting — which is forcing new and old members alike to win over voters — and it’s a recipe for the most incumbents losing primaries in at least a decade. In May alone, at least four could lose.”
Major U.K. Donation Flagged Over Russia Concerns
“One of the biggest donors to Britain’s Conservative Party is suspected of secretly funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to the party from a Russian account,” the New York Times reports.
Red States Plan Special Sessions to Target Abortion
“If Republicans in Congress have any qualms about announcing new abortion restrictions in the event Roe v. Wade is overturned, they are not shared by their state-level counterparts,” The Hill reports.
“GOP governors and state legislators are planning to hold special legislative sessions later this spring and summer to consider new measures to remove or restrict abortion rights, after the Supreme Court’s conservative majority is expected to reverse the landmark decision half a century ago guaranteeing those rights.”
States planning special sessions include South Dakota, Indiana, Nebraska, Florida and South Carolina.
Conservative Parents Seek to Ban Library Apps
“E-reader apps that became a lifeline for students during the pandemic are now in the crossfire of a culture war raging over books in schools and public libraries,” NBC News reports.
“In several states, apps and the companies that run them have been targeted by conservative parents who have pushed schools and public libraries to shut down their digital programs, which let users download and read books on their smartphones, tablets or laptops.”
“Some parents want the apps banned for their children, or even for all students. And they’re getting results.”
Warnock Continues Staggering Fundraising Streak
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) “is continuing his breakneck fundraising pace,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
“He’ll report raising nearly $5.6 million between April 1 and May 4 in a special federal filing he’s set to submit on Thursday.”
10 West Virginia Lawmakers Lost Their Primaries
“Ten members of the West Virginia House of Delegates are poised to be gone from the Statehouse after losing primary challenges Tuesday night,” the Charleston Gazette-Mail reports.
Also interesting: Nine of the ten were Republicans.
Senate Republicans Reserve $53 Million In Ads
“The NRSC will reserve $53 million in airtime for the stretch run to Election Day,” The Hill reports.
“Republicans will spend $9.5 million against Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) in Georgia, and $8 million to try to defeat Sen. Mark Kelly (D) in Arizona. They have reserved another $9 million to blast Sen. Maggie Hassan (D) in New Hampshire, and $3 million targeting Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D) in Nevada.”
New Candidate Scrambles Alaska Senate Race
Pat Chesbro (D), a former teacher, “announced that she’s making a late run for Alaska’s U.S. Senate seat, complicating a race that so far featured incumbent Republican Lisa Murkowski and Trump-endorsed challenger Kelly Tshibaka,” the Anchorage Daily News reports.
Chesbro said “she made up her mind to run Sunday, influenced in part by last week’s draft opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court that would strip the rights to abortion granted by the Roe v. Wade decision.”
Bill Would Create New Regulator of Big Tech
“Throughout history, Congress has established expert agencies to oversee important parts of the American economy — from agriculture to drugs to railroads. Now amid growing concerns about the power of Silicon Valley, a Democratic senator suggests reforming current institutions isn’t enough: a new federal watchdog is needed to regulate the country’s most influential tech companies,” the Washington Post reports.
“Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) today will introduce the Digital Platform Commission Act, a bill to establish a new five-person commission responsible for protecting consumers in the age of Big Tech.”
Supreme Court Justices Meet for First Time Since Leak
“The Supreme Court is set to meet behind closed doors on Thursday for the first time since the astonishing leak of a draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade,” CNN reports.
Trump ‘Nervous’ About Pennsylvania Senate Race
Donald Trump is feeling “nervous about Dr. Oz’s prospects” in Pennsylvania’s Republican U.S. Senate primary as Kathy Barmette (R) has soared in the polls, CNN reports.
Said a Trump adviser: “For the past five months, he’s been told the only threat to Oz is named David McCormick. This is a twist no one saw coming.”
FTC Gets a Democratic Majority
“Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan now has the Democratic majority she needs to turn her progressive vision for antitrust and privacy into reality,” Politico reports.
“The Senate’s confirmation of Georgetown University law professor Alvaro Bedoya on Wednesday will end a 2-2 partisan deadlock that kept many of Khan’s priorities on ice since October.”
Norman Defends Murder of Khashoggi as a ‘Mistake”
Golf legend Greg Norman attempted to brush off questions about the murder of the dissident Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi by saying “we’ve all made mistakes,” the Times of London reports.
He added: “You just want to learn from those mistakes and how you can correct them going forward.”
Russia Seems to Be Coordinating Cyber Attacks
“In the initial weeks of the Russian invasion, American officials expected Russian cyber-attacks to wreak havoc on Ukraine’s electricity grid, banking system and the like. To their surprise, that did not happen,” The Economist reports.
“But a report released by Microsoft suggests that Russian military and cyber-attacks have operated in tandem throughout the war, albeit on a smaller scale than expected. In many cases cyber-attacks occurred within days or hours of missile strikes on similar targets, indicating the attackers may have had overlapping objectives.”
Quote of the Day
“Somehow, in my lifetime, the Democrats have gone from being the party of the factory floor to the party of the faculty lounge.”
— Democratic strategist Paul Begala, on Real Time with Bill Maher.
