Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Extraordinary developments in Russia: “The feud between Russia’s government and Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the outspoken mercenary tycoon, escalated sharply on Friday, as Mr. Prigozhin accused the military of attacking his forces, vowed to retaliate and declared on social media that Russia’s ‘evil’ military leadership ‘must be stopped.’ Russian law enforcement immediately accused him of fomenting an ‘armed rebellion.’”
* SCOTUS: “The Supreme Court on Friday breathed new life into a Biden administration policy that will set immigration enforcement priorities by focusing on public safety threats. The justices, in a 8-1 vote, overturned a Texas-based federal judge’s ruling in June of last year that blocked the policy nationwide. It had previously been in effect for less than a year.”
* That was quick: “Interstate 95 was set to reopen to traffic Friday less than two weeks after a deadly collapse in Philadelphia shut down a heavily traveled stretch of the East Coast’s main north-south highway.”
* At the White House: “President Joe Biden on Friday will sign a wide-ranging executive order aimed at protecting and increasing access to contraception, his administration’s latest attempt to shore up reproductive rights as abortion restrictions rise in many states. The White House announced the order one day shy of the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, which established the constitutional right to abortion in the U.S. in 1973.”
* Complex international affairs: “President Biden said U.S. ties to India were strengthening rapidly, as he concluded a round of talks with India’s leader in which the two countries announced defense deals aimed at weaning New Delhi off arms purchases from Russia.”
* In Wyoming: “Abortion pills will remain legal in Wyoming for now, after a judge ruled Thursday that the state’s first-in-the-nation law to ban them won’t take effect July 1 as planned while a lawsuit proceeds.”
* A local meteorologist and climate specialist said Texas’ current heat wave is “basically impossible” without climate change: “Texas is no stranger to searing heat, but the heat wave that arrived last week is becoming exceptional for its intensity and duration. Air temperatures have soared past 100 degrees for multiple days, even exceeding 110 in spots, and the sizzling heat index has reached as high as 125. Excessive-heat warnings are in effect into the middle of the week for a massive chunk of the state and could be extended.”
* For many on the right, pre-Elon Twitter conspired to censor pro-Trump views. They should read this report on Twitter around Jan. 6: “[T]he records reveal a company that fought until the end to give some of Trump’s most belligerent supporters the benefit of the doubt, even as its internal teams faced an overwhelming volume of tweets threatening retribution in line with Trump’s lies that the election had been stolen.”
* Speaking of Jan. 6: “A host from Alex Jones’ conspiracy theory mongering InfoWars on Friday pleaded guilty to storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Owen Shroyer admitted that he unlawfully entered and remained on restricted grounds during the riot, telling the court that he entered the West Front of the Capitol and stood on stacks of chairs and other equipment with another person, believed to be InfoWars founder Alex Jones. He said he then made his way to the East Side of the Capitol.”
* Set expectations accordingly: “When Judge Aileen M. Cannon assumed control of the case stemming from former President Donald J. Trump’s indictment for putting national security secrets at risk, she set the stage for the trial to be held with a regional jury pool made up mostly of counties that Mr. Trump won handily in his two previous campaigns.”
* Quite a story: “The chief meteorologist of a television news station in Iowa said this week that he was leaving his job to start a career in science, citing in large part the post-traumatic stress disorder that he said he had suffered after he was threatened last year over his on-air coverage of climate change.”
Have a safe weekend.
