Today’s edition of quick hits.
* A closely watched case: “A Rhode Island federal judge on Friday ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to distribute money owed to recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ‘as soon as possible,’ just one day before funding for SNAP was set to lapse.”
* Nightmarish conditions in Sudan: “Evidence of atrocities emerging from the city of El Fasher stoked fears that the Sudanese region of Darfur is plunging, once again, into a cycle of genocidal violence.”
* Volker Türk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, has some concerns about a deadly White House policy: “The United Nations human rights chief has condemned the Trump administration’s military strikes on boats that it says are being used to smuggle drugs from South America, saying that they violate international law and should be investigated.”
* Controller shortages seem like a problem: “Continued staffing shortages in air traffic control facilities around the country were again causing delays at airports on Friday as the government shutdown neared the one-month mark.”
* An enormous step backward for U.S. leadership: “The Trump administration is restricting the number of refugees admitted annually to the United States to 7,500 and they will mostly be white South Africans, a dramatic drop announced Thursday that effectively suspends America’s traditional role as a haven for those fleeing war and persecution.”
* Colorado’s case appears to have real merit: “Colorado’s attorney general sued President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday for moving U.S. Space Command’s headquarters to Alabama, calling the decision unconstitutional retaliation for the Democratic state’s vote-by-mail practices.” * Wait, Trump’s politicization of a once-treasured cultural institution isn’t working out? “Nearly nine months after Trump became chair of the center and more than a month into its main season, ticket sales for the Kennedy Center’s three largest performance venues are the worst they’ve been in years, according to a Washington Post analysis of ticketing data from dozens of recent shows as well as past seasons. Tens of thousands of seats have been left empty.” * How pitiful: “President Donald Trump on Thursday appeared to claim some credit for the Nobel Prize in physics for work done decades before he even became president. The president shared a quote on Truth Social that he said was from Energy Secretary Chris Wright ― a former fracking exec ― saying the award this year given for work in quantum physics is, by extension, an award for Trump.” 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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