Now the GOP doesn’t want to talk about abortion

From the NYT: “Even as some of their counterparts at the state level race forward with far-reaching abortion bans that could even affect some methods of contraception, Republicans appear determined to recast their position on the issue as one of moderation and avert the gaze of voters away from their anti-abortion-rights agenda. …

“The Republicans’ caution reflects the potential for the eventual ruling to change the midterm political landscape. Their leaders and candidates have built a campaign to reclaim control of the House and Senate around inflation, economic uncertainty, crime, border control and American doubts that President Biden, who is deeply unpopular, can right the ship.

“Now the prospect of eliminating abortion rights has added a tectonic change to American life into the mix, threatening to upend that focus.

“Democrats have signaled that they plan to use the coming decision as a rallying cry for voters to reject Republicans, portraying its implications as vast and unacceptable.”

Vaccine and votes by county in Georgia

I managed to get into a debate on Facebook with a bunch of right-wingers on vaccination. I accidentally let it get dragged into the rabbit hole of whether red states have lower vaccination rates than blue states. One of the posters claimed that he “just did a quick check here in Ga and the counties Biden won by the most are pretty much identical to the ones he lost by the most.” I could not let this pass so I laboriously entered the vaccination rate by county and the percentage that voted for Trump in 2020 into a spread sheet and produced a scatter graph. As you can see, it has a definite downward slope, showing that the lower the percentage of vaccinated persons in a country, the higher the percentage of people who voted for Trump.

The Onion’s customary accuracy

WASHINGTON?Unsettled by the party?s dismal performance in the Virginia governor?s race, Democratic leadership vowed Wednesday to work twice as hard in the coming months to muddle their agenda. ?Last night was a wake-up call that we need to refocus our efforts on alienating the American voter with vague goals and?