Today’s edition of quick hits.
* I wish this were more surprising: “The FBI and NYPD are investigating a letter containing a death threat and white powder that was mailed to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office is investigating former President Donald Trump, law-enforcement sources told NBC News. … It contained a small amount of white powder. There were no evacuations or injuries, officials said.”
* This news comes on the heels of Trump publishing a new message in which the former president said Bragg is “doing the work of Anarchists and the Devil.”
* Oh, to have been a fly on the wall for this one: “Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran testified Friday under court order and the ‘crime fraud’ exception before the federal grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump’s handling of sensitive government documents.”
* In Syria: “The United States launched airstrikes against Iranian-linked targets in Syria on Thursday after a U.S. contractor was killed and five U.S. service members and another contractor were wounded when a suicide drone hit a coalition base in the country’s northeast.”
* A big win for labor in Michigan: “Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed into law Friday Democratic bills to repeal Michigan’s right-to-work law that currently allows workers in the state to not pay union dues or fees. She also reinstated a prevailing wage law that requires union-level wages and benefits for state-funded construction projects.”
* The latest from Israel: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel defiantly vowed on Thursday to proceed with a divisive judicial overhaul, in a move that came just hours after his coalition passed a law making it harder to remove him from office.”
* Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification in India: “Modi’s Key Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has lost his parliamentary seat after a court found him guilty of defamation over his remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surname and he was disqualified from the lawmaking body, a parliamentary statement said on Friday.”
* The Republican-dominated Fifth Circuit remains a caricature of itself: “President Joe Biden’s order that federal employees get vaccinated against COVID-19 has been blocked by a federal appeals court. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, in a decision Thursday, rejected arguments that Biden, as the nation’s chief executive, has the same authority as the CEO of a private corporation to require that employees be vaccinated.” * This was never going to work: “House Republicans came up short in their effort to override the first veto of President Joe Biden’s presidency, meaning Labor Department regulations permitting consideration of environmental, social and governance factors in investing will stand.” * Maybe the Space Command fight is nearing its end point? “The White House appears ready to reverse a Trump administration plan to relocate the U.S. Space Command from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Ala., because it fears the transfer would disrupt operations at a time when space is increasingly important to the military. The Space Command siting decision has been a political football for the past four years.” 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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