Today’s edition of quick hits.
* A trial we’re keeping an eye on: “E. Jean Carroll, the writer who says Donald Trump raped her in a New York City Department store in the 1990s, filed a civil suit against the former president because ‘she wants to get her life back,’ her attorney said in his opening statement Tuesday.”
* Yet another Republican-imposed six-week ban: “North Dakota on Monday adopted one of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the country as Republican Gov. Doug Burgum signed legislation banning the procedure at six weeks of pregnancy, even in cases of rape or incest.”
* International diplomacy: “The recent leak of classified Pentagon documents, which show that the United States has been gathering intelligence on its ally South Korea, will not affect the relationship between the two countries, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol told NBC News in an exclusive interview.”
* “Right to repair“ is a fascinating issue: “Colorado became the first state Tuesday to ensure farmers can fix their own equipment with the governor’s signing of a ‘right to repair’ law, which forces manufacturers to provide the necessary manuals, tools, parts and software.”
* The suspect is a member of a “white lives matter” group: “An eastern Ohio man told investigators that he tried to burn down an Ohio church because he wanted to prevent a drag show that was scheduled to take place there, federal prosecutors allege in newly unsealed charges.”
* Tennessee Three: “The three Tennessee Democratic legislators who faced expulsion over gun control protests visited the White House on Monday, elevating their push to overhaul firearm laws with a message that framed the fight as a larger struggle for justice.”
* It’s not common for Beijing to scramble like this: “Beijing has been forced to backtrack after its ambassador to France sparked a furor in Europe at the weekend by questioning the legal status of former Soviet states and Ukraine’s sovereignty over Crimea.”
* No one should feel good about the U.S. Covid response: “Looking back at the U.S. response to the pandemic, many setbacks and mistakes are well-known. But a closer examination by a team of seasoned experts has brought to the surface a profoundly unsettling conclusion. The United States, once the paragon of can-do pragmatism, of successful moon shots and biomedical breakthroughs, fell down on the job in confronting the crisis. The pandemic, the experts say, revealed ‘a collective national incompetence in government.’”
* As a rule, is it wise to discard Republican Sen. Ron Johnson’s odd arguments about Hunter Biden? Yes, it is.
See you tomorrow.
