Today’s edition of quick hits:
* If you’re wondering why Wall Street soared, this Moderna news had a lot to do with it: “A COVID-19 vaccine candidate has shown it can prompt an immune response in the human body, and was also found to be safe and well-tolerated in a small group of patients.”
* Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) today “vowed to appeal a court ruling to the state’s Supreme Court on Monday after a judge ruled her executive orders on social distancing guidelines ‘null and void.’”
* That’s a lot of money: “A $500 billion Treasury Department fund created by the Cares Act in March to help stabilize the economy has lent barely any money, according to an initial report issued by a new Congressional Oversight Commission.”
* Georgia: “In the latest bungling of tracking data for the novel coronavirus, a recently posted bar chart on the Georgia Department of Public Health’s website appeared to show good news: new confirmed cases in the counties with the most infections had dropped every single day for the past two weeks. In fact, there was no clear downward trend.”
* In retreat: “Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appears to be backing away from a theory he and President Donald Trump were pushing that the coronavirus pandemic may have originated at a lab in Wuhan, China.”
* There are so just so many stories like this one: “A Florida man who thought the coronavirus was ‘a fake crisis’ has changed his mind after he and his wife contracted COVID-19.”
* On a related note: “A congregant who attended a California church on Mother’s Day for a service that was against state orders tested positive for coronavirus the next day, possibly exposing 180 other churchgoers.”
* Al Qaeda: “Federal authorities said Monday that the Saudi Air Force officer who shot his fellow students at Pensacola Air Station in Florida in December was pushed by the al Qaeda terror group to carry out the attack, a discovery authorities made after examining a cellphone he tried to destroy.” * Truckers: “President Donald Trump says the sound of truck horns just south of the White House is a ‘sign of love’ for him from truckers. But the truckers are actually honking their opposition to low shipping rates.” * White House dysfunction: “In early May, White House aides had seemingly settled on Derek Lyons as President Donald Trump’s next top domestic policy adviser. They told reporters as much. A week later, though, Brooke Rollins got the job, according to five people familiar with the situation, including two White House officials. And Lyons got a promotion to counselor to the president, while keeping his job as White House staff secretary.” * Karl Rove is still Karl Rove: “Former President George W. Bush senior adviser Karl Rove accused Barack Obama — the nation’s first black president — of committing a ‘political drive-by shooting’ on Monday for subtly criticizing President Donald Trump’s coronavirus response in a commencement speech for historically black colleges.” See you tomorrow.
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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