Today’s edition of quick hits:
* A stunning new admission from Texas Department of Public Safety: “A door to a classroom where the Uvalde school shooter was holed up was unlocked while police searched for a key to get in, a top Texas official said Tuesday, describing law enforcement’s response to the rampage as an ‘abject failure.’”
* In related news: “Police officers with rifles and at least one ballistic shield were in a hallway at Robb Elementary School around 19 minutes after a gunman entered classrooms there, according to reports from Texas news organizations Monday.”
* Tomorrow morning, I’ll have plenty to say about the latest Jan. 6 committee hearing: “Former President Donald Trump’s team orchestrated a plot to overturn the 2020 election by organizing slates of alternate ‘fake electors’ in seven pivotal states, according to testimony and documents presented Tuesday by the House Jan. 6 committee.”
* In Ukraine: “Attorney General Merrick Garland made a surprise visit to Ukraine on Tuesday, according to a Department of Justice spokesperson. Garland is meeting with Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova ‘to discuss U.S. and international efforts to help Ukraine identify, apprehend, and prosecute those individuals involved in war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine.’”
* A big move: “The Biden administration will ban the use of land mines by the United States across most of the globe, in a decision that reverses Trump-era rules allowing greater employment of the weapons that are blamed for killing thousands of civilians a year — the majority of them children.”
* A big arrest: “Three people claiming to be ‘sovereign citizens’ were arrested Saturday morning after live ammunition and explosives were found in a vehicle they were driving and at their remote compound, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.”
* A big auction: “The Nobel Peace Prize auctioned off by Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov to raise money for Ukrainian child refugees sold Monday night for $103.5 million, shattering the old record for a Nobel.” * This is a White House that takes diversity breakthroughs seriously: “President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced his intention to appoint Mohegan Indian Tribe Lifetime Chief Marilynn Malerba as U.S. treasurer, marking the first time a Native American’s signature will appear on U.S. currency.” * Last week, an Oklahoma man wearing a tactical vest and armed with a semi-automatic rifle and a holstered pistol approached some stores. When panicked locals called 911, police officers said they couldn’t do anything — because under Oklahoma’s constitutional carry laws, what the man was doing was entirely legal. The man was, however, taken into custody because of an unrelated warrant and because he was also carrying brass knuckles, which are illegal in Oklahoma. 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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