Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Minnesota: “The Minneapolis City Council voted for immediate reform in its police department, including the ban on police chokeholds and requiring officers to intervene anytime they see unauthorized use of force.”
* New York: “Two Buffalo police officers were suspended without pay Thursday after a video showed authorities knocking down a 75-year-old man during a protest, Mayor Byron Brown said.”
* Ridiculous: “The White House abandoned social distancing for reporters attending President Donald Trump’s Rose Garden event Friday because ‘it looks better,’ according to the aide who ordered it…. The decision ‘needlessly put reporters’ health at risk,’ said Jonathan Karl of ABC News, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association.”
* Quite a sight, Part I: “District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser on Friday had ‘Black Lives Matter’ painted on the street that leads to the White House where protesters have been demonstrating following George Floyd’s death in police custody.”
* Quite a sight, Part II: “In the 72 hours since Monday’s melee at Lafayette Square, the White House has been transformed into a veritable fortress — the physical manifestation of President Trump’s vision of law-and-order ‘domination’ over the millions of Americans who have taken to the streets to protest racial injustice.”
* Germany: “President Trump has directed the Pentagon to remove thousands of U.S. troops from Germany by September, U.S. government officials said Friday. The move would reduce the U.S. troop presence in Germany by 9,500 troops from the 34,500 troops that are permanently assigned there.”
* I’m surprised Trump hasn’t tweeted about this: “Two top medical journals on Thursday retracted a pair of influential coronavirus studies because of alleged irregularities in the underlying data, which came from a little-known data company called Surgisphere. Both journals said the firm had rebuffed requests to review its dataset.” * Infrastructure: “The majority of U.S. public school districts need to make major building repairs in at least half of their schools, yet many districts are unable to pay for updates or have postponed them to improve security in case of a shooting, according to a federal report. The U.S. Government Accountability Office on Thursday released a study that was the agency’s first on the issue since 1996.” * As if we didn’t have enough going on: “Tropical Depression Cristobal is gathering strength and has its sights set for a direct hit on the Gulf States this weekend. As of early Friday, the storm had sustained winds of 35 mph and was located 80 miles south-southeast of Campeche, Mexico. It was moving north-northeast at 7 mph, meaning it is now headed directly for the Gulf Coast states.” 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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