Primary News: South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, who voted to certify the 2020 election, fought off a pro-Trump challenger in yesterday’s state primaries, but overall, election deniers and people who want to control elections for the Republican vote are making advances. 

  South Carolina Republican Tom Rice, one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump after the January 6^th insurrection was trounced 51-25 percent by state Rep. Russell Fry, who had the Trump endorsement.

  In Nevada, former Nevada attorney general Adam Laxalt, who led Trump’s campaign to overturn the state’s 2020 election results, won his party’s nomination for the Senate. Nominated for Nevada secretary of state is Jim Marchant, who espoused conspiracy theories about voting machines and would oversee the state’s 2024 election.

  Halfway through the primary season, Republicans have nominated dozens of candidates who have spread the lies about the presidential election and would have power over the administration and certification of elections in coming years.

  In Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Nevada, Republican voters have endorsed candidates who spread doubt about the legitimacy of  Joseph Biden’s win and are now running for governor, secretary of state and attorney general. 

The War Zone: Ukrainian defenders and civilians appear to be largely contained in a giant Soviet-era chemical compound in the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk as Russian forces tighten the noose. It’s similar to the last stand in the steel plant in Mariupol.

  The Russians have called on the Ukrainians to surrender and have said they would provide a “humanitarian corridor” for exit, but previously that has meant captivity for soldiers and relocation to Russia for civilians.

  Hopeless as the defense of Sievierodonetsk might be, it ties up Russian forces and costs them casualties while drawing them away from other areas of the east they want to control.

  If Russia consolidates its gains in the east, there’s fear they may try to take more of Ukraine. “I am sure that if Ukraine is not strong enough, they will go further,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday in a plea for more western weapons. “We have shown to them our strength. And it is important for this strength to be also demonstrated together with us by our Western partners as well.”

Econ 101: Stocks moved still lower into bear territory yesterday as the markets await word from the Federal Reserve on raising interest rates. The S&P 500 is down this morning nearly 22 percent from its record high.

  There’s talk about the Fed raising interest rates by three quarters of a percent to put a clamp on inflation, but the investment markets hate that. Inflation might come down, but so will stocks.

  With inflation running at 8.6 percent over the past year, NY Times reporter German Lopez discusses “greedflation,” the notion that companies are taking advantage of inflation by raising prices even higher. Lopez notes that profit margins are high, an indication that companies are gouging. 

  In the argument against, he cites the disruption of the pandemic, the effect of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the extra cash injected into the economy by the stimulus bill. 

  Lopez concludes that, “If profits fall as inflation remains high, then gouging probably is not a major cause of rising prices.”

Insurrection News: The House committee investigating the January 6^th insurrection postponed a hearing that had been scheduled for today. Member Zoe Lofgren said they need more time to edit video exhibits and it was  “no big deal.”

  The committee was  expected to lay out President Trump’s efforts to use the Justice Department to overturn the 2020 election. They are still scheduled to hold a public hearing tomorrow.

The Shooting Gallery: After years of massacres, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced he will support the developing bi-partisan gun bill, which barely does anything but allows the politicians to say they did something. 

The Spin Rack: President Biden announced that he’s going to Saudi Arabi next month to visit the despotic King Salman, basically going back on his promise to make the country “a pariah” for its murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. — A court in Moscow extended the pre-trial jailing of WNBA star Brittney Griner by another 18 days. She was arrested four months ago passing through security at Moscow’s primary airport and accused of smuggling hash oil into the country. She faces a possible 10 years in prison. — The 14-year-old boy who fell to his death in March from a Florida amusement park ride exceeded the ride’s weight limit by nearly 100 pounds, according to an autopsy report. Tyre Sampson was six foot, 383 pounds. — Japan’s parliament passed a law making “online insults” punishable by prison after cyberbullying motivated the suicide of a television star who was getting beaten up on social media. — Yellowstone Park will remain closed for about a week after punishing rain and floods washed out roads. Parts of the park may be closed for the season.

Open Book: As if things aren’t bad enough for President Biden with inflation, the price of gas, and the war in Ukraine, his son Hunter’s ex-wife Kathleen has published a memoir about her turbulent marriage to a drug-addicted philandering man.

  In “If We Break,” Kathleen Buhle, formerly Biden, writes about Hunter going to rehab five or six times and having an affair with Hallie, the widow of his late brother beau.

  Karen Heller writes in The Washington Post, “After the Hallie telenovela-worthy bombshell, Buhle says that Hunter can no longer hurt her, that the worst is behind her. Reader, she is sorely mistaken.”

  That’s good advice for the President as well. 

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