Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Canadian anti-vaccine truckers are starting to undermine the continental economy: “General Motors is the latest automaker to suspend production because of protests at a crucial Canadian border crossing that have disrupted supply chains already in turmoil because of the pandemic…. Ford Motor and Toyota have also shut down some operations because factories could not get parts manufactured in Canada.”
* Inflation: “High prices continue to hit American shoppers as inflation rose faster than expected to 7.5 percent for the month of January over the previous year, exceeding the 40-year high set in December.”
* Interestingly, French officials didn’t want Russia to have Macron’s DNA: “French President Emmanuel Macron refused a Kremlin request that he take a Russian COVID-19 test when he arrived to see President Vladimir Putin this week, and was therefore kept at a distance from the Russian leader, two sources in Macron’s entourage told Reuters.”
* Virginia Republicans are off to quite a start just 26 days into their terms: “A Republican deputy attorney general in Virginia resigned from her position Thursday after Facebook posts surfaced showing she had applauded Jan. 6 rioters and falsely claimed that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election.”
* A step in the right direction: “The Biden administration said on Thursday that it would require states to submit proposals to line highways with electric vehicle chargers, part of a $5 billion plan to fill a gap in the infrastructure needed to support booming sales of battery-powered cars.”
* Unsurprising news out of Texas: “Abortions in Texas fell by 60% in the first month under the most restrictive abortion law in the U.S. in decades, according to new figures that for the first time reveal a full accounting of the immediate impact.” * Overdue progress: “A bipartisan group of senators unveiled the latest proposal to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act on Wednesday in a measure that would not close the so-called ‘boyfriend loophole,’ despite a Democratic effort to expand gun bans for convicted abusers.” * I misspeak all the time, but not quite like this: “Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who has become known for her love of conspiracy theories and angry outbursts at Democratic leaders, apparently meant to accuse House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Gestapo police tactics in an interview Tuesday. But it didn’t quite come out that way…. Rather than compare Pelosi’s tactics to the Nazi secret police, she instead compared them to a bowl of chilled soup.” 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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