FAITH AND SCIENCE:  As belief in “fetal personhood” gains momentum for the anti-abortion movement, the Southern Baptist convention voted yesterday to oppose the use of in vitro fertilization. The resolution called for congregants to “advocate for the government to restrain” actions inconsistent with the dignity of “every human being, which necessarily includes frozen embryonic human beings.”

  They are saying that a fertilized human egg is a person and therefore to be protected. In vitro fertilization requires the fertilization of multiple eggs, most of which are destroyed when no longer needed for implantation. The vast majority of the medical and scientific world says life does not begin at the moment of fertilization and even pregnancy doesn’t begin until the egg attaches to the uterus. 

  Despite the vote of the majority, some of the delegates, known in the convention as “messengers,” spoke in favor of IVF, saying it has made it possible for them to have children.

  IVF is not the only target of anti- abortion activists. Some Republican lawmakers have sought to limit birth control pills, claiming that they cause abortions.

ECON 101: The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady following a report that inflation in May dropped slightly from year to year to 3.3 percent. The fed had been raising interest rates to fight inflation and signaled that the first rate cut might come later this year.

  Although inflation is down from a peak of 9.1 percent in June of 2022 and the economy keeps adding jobs, the damage is done. Prices for housing and groceries have spiked and they’re not coming down, making for a big issue in the fall election.  

CONTEMPTUOUS: House Republicans by only a nine-vote majority pushed through a recommendation that Attorney General Merrick Garland be held in contempt for refusing to give the Judiciary Committee recordings of President Biden’s interviews in the investigation of his improper possession of secret documents.

  The US attorney in Washington must now consider whether to prosecute his boss.

  The Justice Department has released transcripts but Garland won’t hand over the recordings. Republicans say they need the recordings to verify that the transcripts are accurate while Democrats say the other party just wants to use damaging clips against the President in election campigns.

  Speaker Mike Johnson said before the vote, “We have to defend the Constitution; we have to defend the authority of Congress.”

  Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, who himself ignored a subpoena to appear before the House January 6^thcommittee, stood on the floor yesterday and said, “Attorney general Garland’s willful refusal constitutes contempt of Congress.” When he was under subpoena, Jordan called it “a dangerous escalation of political vendettas.”

THE GAVEL DROPS: Following revelations that two Supreme Court justices have accepted lavish gifts and favors — millions of dollars’ worth in the case of Clarence Thomas — Senate Republicans blocked a Democrat bill that would have imposed ethics and transparency standards on the court 

  Sen. Richard Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said, “The ethics crisis at the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, is unacceptable.” South Carolina Republican Lindsay Graham said the ethics bill would have hampered the court’s function. 

PARADISE LOST: As much as 10 inches of rain that has fallen in Florida this week has brought flooding in the Fort Lauderdale and Miami areas. Roads and shopping strips have been flooded, cars submerged, and hundreds of flights at Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International were either delayed or canceled.  More rain is expected.

THE OBIT PAGE: Basketball great Jerry West, a star in the history of professional basketball and the Los Angeles Lakers and whose silhouette driving to the basket is the centerpiece of the NBA logo, has died at age 86.

  West was the Lakers’ first draft pick in 1960 when the team moved from Minneapolis to LA. Despite being an all-star guard in all of his 14 seasons, he didn’t win a championship until Wilt Chamberlain was with the team in 1972.

  West was known as a performer under pressure. “If it comes down to one shot,” West once said, “I like to shoot the ball. I don’t worry about it. If it doesn’t go in, it doesn’t go in.”

  West, who grew up in West Virginia coal country, went on to become a coach and general manager. AS GM, he headed the Laker team that included Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, and James Worthy that won  championships in 1985, and again in 1987 and 1988.

— Howard Fineman, a former reporter and editor for Newsweek and for many years a political analyst on cable news, has died of pancreatic cancer at age 75.

  Fineman was known as a reporter with great sources and a sensitive antenna for what’s going on in Washington. He was a graduate of Colgate University and a former editor of the Colgate Maroon newspaper, which in the 1970s spawned journalists including Pulitzer winner Michael Hiltzik of the LA Times, Gloria Borger now with CNN, Steve Lohr at the NY Times, the late Bob Minzesheimer of USA Today, and Brian Rooney, formerly with ABC News and now the editor of The Rooney Report.   

THE SPIN RACK: President Biden while attending the G7 summit is expected to sign a 10-year security agreement with Ukraine. — Baltimore harbor has reopened for traffic after 11 weeks of closure following the ship collision that collapsed the vital Francis Scott Key Bridge. The bridge itself will take years to be re-built. — Four Russian warships, including a nuclear-powered submarine, are visiting Cuba within missile-shot of the US. American naval forces are closely watching the Russians. — The Boston Celtics have taken a 3-0 lead over the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA finals.

BELOW THE FOLD: Following a complaint by Moms for Liberty, a right-wing parents-rights group, Florida’s Indian River County school board banned a book that MFL claims to depict sexual conduct and is “teaching children to be social justice warriors.” The name of the book is “Ban This Book.” 

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