Today’s edition of quick hits.
* This guy has had quite a career: “Jack Smith, the newly named special counsel in the Trump investigations, most recently served as the chief prosecutor for the special court in The Hague, where he investigated war crimes committed during the Kosovo War.”
* SCOTUS: “The Biden administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to reinstate President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, which has been blocked by a federal appeals court.”
* If I didn’t actually use Twitter, all of this might be more amusing: “Twitter said it would be closing all its offices until Monday, according to an email shared by a departing employee, after a new wave of employees resigned when Elon Musk issued an ultimatum telling them they would need to be willing to commit to a ‘hardcore’ work environment.”
* The latest from the Korean Peninsula: “North Korea fired a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile Friday, the South Korean and Japanese governments said, one that the Japanese defense minister said has the potential to reach the entire continental United States.”
* An outrageous injustice gets worse: “WNBA star Brittney Griner has begun serving her nine-year sentence for drug possession at a Russian penal colony, her lawyers and agent said Thursday. Griner was transferred to a penal colony in Mordovia, about 350 kilometers (210 miles) east of Moscow, after a Russian court last month rejected her appeal of her sentence.”
* Another Jan. 6 conviction: “A Donald Trump fan who was convicted on all counts after telling jurors that he thought he was ‘following presidential orders’ when he stole a liquor bottle and a coat rack from the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was sentenced to three years in federal prison on Friday. Dustin Thompson, a college-educated Ohio man who testified that he believed Trump’s lies about the 2020 election, was convicted on six charges in April after he told jurors he was seeking Trump’s ‘respect’ and ‘approval’ on Jan. 6.” * An investigation worth watching: “The Justice Department has opened an antitrust investigation into the owner of Ticketmaster, whose sale of Taylor Swift concert tickets descended into chaos this week, said two people with knowledge of the matter. The investigation is focused on whether Live Nation Entertainment has abused its power over the multibillion-dollar live music industry.” * This brutal New York Times report is worth your time: “Half the world could soon face dangerous heat. We measured the daily toll it is already taking.” 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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