Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Flynn case: “A federal appeals court appeared unlikely Friday to stop a judge from examining why the Justice Department sought to walk away from its prosecution of President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn.”
* CDC: “States may need to reimplement the strict social distancing measures that were put in place earlier this year if U.S. coronavirus cases rise ‘dramatically,’ a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official said Friday.”
* Chicago: “Videotape shows more than a dozen officers ‘lounging’ in U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush’s campaign office, one even making popcorn, as protests and looting erupted in Chicago earlier this month, he revealed Thursday.”
* Tulsa: “A police commander in Oklahoma is ‘under review’ after he said that officers are shooting African Americans ‘less than we probably ought to be’ during a local radio interview.”
* State Sen. Steve Huffman (R): “An Ohio lawmaker was fired from his job as an emergency room doctor Thursday after he sparked a backlash by asking whether the ‘colored population’ is more susceptible to the coronavirus because they ‘do not wash their hands as well as other groups.’”
* This followed Trump’s declaration: “Oklahoma Republican James M. Inhofe, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Thursday that he will try to dilute his committee’s newly adopted proposal that would require the Defense Department to rename bases and other assets named after Confederates.”
* This seems very hard to believe: “White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Thursday defended President Trump’s decision to restart his campaign rallies next week in Tulsa, Okla., on Juneteenth, calling the holiday marking the emancipation of slaves very ‘meaningful’ for him.”
* Nathan Bedford Forrest: “Protesters rallied outside of the Tennessee state Capitol Wednesday after lawmakers voted to keep a bust of a Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader on full display in the capitol, following arguments that removing it would erase history and could be offensive to some.” * Worth watching: “Defense Secretary Mark Esper late Thursday announced an ‘After Action Review’ of the National Guard’s controversial role in nationwide protests last week.” * This is a new and interesting trend: “Microsoft President Brad Smith said Thursday that the company will not sell facial recognition software to law enforcement agencies in the U.S. until Congress sets national standards for its deployment — becoming the latest tech giant to set limits on its sales of the technology amid scrutiny over government surveillance at protests against the killing of George Floyd.” * Heartening news: “Harry M. Reid has a message for these incredibly bleak times: Keep fighting. Last summer the former Senate majority leader hid from the obvious fact that pancreatic cancer was on the verge of defeating him…. Instead, under an experimental treatment, Reid has been declared in ‘complete remission’ and cancer-free.” Have a safe weekend.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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