Kevin Drum

Republicans have now had a full week to stick their fingers in the wind and decide how they're supposed to feel about Alabama's ruling that IVF embryos are God's children the same as the rest of us. But they still haven't figured it out. Donald Trump wrote a screeching post in favor of IVF today, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee quickly followed suit:

The messaging from the NRSC, contained in a memo obtained by The Washington Post, was accompanied by announcements from a rapidly growing number of GOP Senate candidates voicing support for IVF procedures, which the Alabama ruling threatens.

“When responding to the Alabama Supreme Court ruling, it is imperative that our candidates align with the public’s overwhelming support for IVF and fertility treatments,” NRSC Executive Director Jason Thielman wrote in a memo to “Senate Candidates” dated Friday.... “NRSC encourages Republican Senate candidates to clearly and concisely reject efforts by the government to restrict IVF,” he wrote.

I hardly need to point out that Republicans are desperately trying to tap dance around the question here. They obviously don't want to be on the wrong side of polls saying that Americans overwhelmingly support fertility treatments, but that's not enough. After all, no government is trying to restrict IVF. Nor is "support" for IVF at issue.

The sole question is whether an IVF embryo is considered a person. This has the effect of restricting access to IVF because it can turn negligence into murder. No one wants to take the risk of performing IVF if a wrong move means you could end up in court looking down the barrel of a wrongful death or manslaughter charge from an overzealous district attorney.

So the question for Republicans isn't whether they love IVF, it's whether they think life begins at conception, even if that life is being stored inside a hospital freezer at -320°F. The Alabama Supreme Court says yes. Nikki Haley says yes. The Catholic Church says yes. Many fundamentalist Christians say yes.

But the only way to support IVF is to say no. So what do Republicans say?

This is Charlie sniffing the most interesting branch in the world. When he was done, I believe he moved on to a different branch.

Benjamin Netanyahu may not be popular in Israel these days, but his war is. Among Israeli Jews:

• Only 37% support a negotiated end to the war, even on favorable terms.
• 68% oppose the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza, even if UNRWA isn't involved.
• 83% say there's little chance of ever reforming the Palestinian Authority.
• 72% think the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state would either increase terrorism against Israel or have no effect.

This is from a poll conducted last week by the Israel Democracy Institute. It's why Netanyahu can so easily brush aside American pressure to rein in the war: Israelis may not trust Netanyahu, and they may not even believe that total victory against Hamas is likely, but they sure want to try regardless. Netanyahu may not have Israelis on his side, but his war policies do.

Against all odds, it appears that conservatives are having a recreational sex moment. They're against it:

I hate to be "that guy," but, um, recreational sex is not a recent invention. It's not even an ancient invention. And it's certainly not responsible for anything new and different about modern society.

Just thought I'd point that out to any conservatives who might wander by.

I want to take this opportunity to say that all this "golden years" stuff is a crock. I'm only 65 and I've got multiple myeloma; degraded hips that make it hard to walk; diabetes (almost); peripheral neuropathy; possibly prostate cancer;¹ moderate chronic depression; and now a very painful hemorrhoid.² Plus high blood pressure and high cholesterol, but that almost goes without saying.

ffs, this is ridiculous. I'd like to speak with the manager, please.

¹But probably not. It's just a high PSA result so far.

²I think. Whatever it is, it's in my rectum and hurts like hell.

This is the San Juan River as it flows through Pagosa Springs, about 50 miles east of Durango.

District Court Judge Cormac Carney has tossed charges of assault against a pair of white nationalists because it was unfair not to prosecute some lefties too:

An Orange County federal judge has dismissed criminal charges for the second time in five years against accused members of a Southern California white supremacist group suspected of inciting brawls at political rallies throughout the state.

....In his decision, Carney granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss, agreeing that Rundo and Boman were being selectively prosecuted, while “far-left extremist groups, such as Antifa” were not. “Prosecuting only members of the far right and ignoring members of the far left leads to the troubling conclusion that the government believes it is permissible to physically assault and injure Trump supporters to silence speech,” Carney wrote in his order.

Carney was appointed by George W. Bush. That's about all the explanation you need for this.

This is not the first time Carney has weaponized his authority to dismiss cases. In 2020 Carney was upset that COVID lockdowns ordered by the chief judge barred him from holding in-person trials. In fact, he was so enraged that as retribution he began dismissing charges against defendants waiting for trial. His jihad ended a few months later when the 9th Circuit overturned him.

Takeoff from John Wayne Airport over the 405 freeway. On windy days planes take off to the north, rather than heading out south over the ocean as they usually do.

It begins:

The University of Alabama at Birmingham health system has paused in vitro fertilization procedures following an Alabama Supreme Court decision due to fear of criminal prosecution and lawsuits, a spokeswoman said.

....“We must evaluate the potential that our patients and our physicians could be prosecuted criminally or face punitive damages for following the standard of care for IVF treatments,” [spokeswoman Hannah Echols] wrote in the email.

You can't blame UA Birmingham for this decision. With the lunatics in charge of the asylum on the Alabama Supreme Court, they hardly had a choice.

We now know that:

• Alexander Smirnov lied to prosecutors about Burisma paying $5 million bribes to Hunter and Joe Biden.
• These lies started in June 2020.
• Smirnov began an extensive series of meetings with Russian intelligence officials in 2019.
• Republicans made Smirnov's accusations a centerpiece of their corruption charges against the Biden family.

Draw your own conclusions. At this point, the question is: What did Republican investigators know about all this and when did they know it?