Today’s edition of quick hits:
* SCOTUS: “The Supreme Court’s conservative majority signaled Friday that it is unlikely to allow the Biden administration to enforce a sweeping rule intended to help stop the spread of Covid in the nation’s workplaces.”
* On a related note, this seemed worth noting for context: “Two officials presenting arguments on Friday to the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to block vaccine mandates ordered by President Joe Biden’s administration have tested positive for COVID-19 and will make their cases remotely, their offices said.”
* The latest from the crisis in Kazakhstan: “The President of Kazakhstan said Friday he authorized law enforcement to open fire on ‘terrorists’ and shoot to kill, a move that comes after days of extremely violent protests in the former Soviet nation.”
* Sentencing: “The three white men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man, in Georgia were sentenced Friday to life in prison. The sentences for Travis McMichael, who shot Arbery; and his father, Gregory McMichael, do not carry the possibility of parole. Their neighbor William ‘Roddie’ Bryan will be eligible, however, Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley said.”
* Cuomo has received a lot of news like this lately: “An Albany judge on Friday officially tossed a misdemeanor forcible touching charge against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who’d been accused of groping an executive assistant in the governor’s mansion in December of 2020.”
* Security concerns from DHS and FBI: “Federal law enforcement and intelligence officials have observed an uptick in calls for unspecified acts of violence in the past 48 hours associated with the Jan. 6 anniversary, a senior U.S. intelligence official with direct knowledge of the matter told NBC News Wednesday.”
* This guy shouldn’t have even asked: “If Anthony Williams had his way, he’d be in sunny Jamaica later this month, vacationing with his girlfriend and impressing her family. But Williams, a Michigan man accused of storming the U.S. Capitol a year ago in what he allegedly called the ‘proudest day of my life,’ can’t travel outside the country without a federal judge’s approval. So on Thursday, the anniversary of the Capitol riot, he filed a motion to get it. Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell denied his request within hours.” * So much avoidable suffering: “Far-right podcast host Douglas Kuzma — who was an outspoken critic of the COVID-19 vaccine — has died while battling the coronavirus, which he contracted after attending a QAnon-friendly gathering in Texas that right-wingers baselessly claimed was the victim of an anthrax attack.” * On a related note: “A leading QAnon promoter who urged both her followers and strangers she passed on the street not to take the COVID vaccine died Thursday of the coronavirus, making her just the latest vaccine opponent killed by the disease. Cirsten Weldon had amassed tens of thousands of followers across right-wing social media networks by promoting the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy under the screenname ‘CirstenW.’” 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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