Today’s edition of quick hits:
* An important deployment: “The U.S. is deploying about 3,000 troops to help defend European allies amid the standoff over Russia’s military buildup on Ukraine’s borders, the Biden administration announced Wednesday.”
* Persons of interest in the HBCU threats: “Six ‘tech savvy’ juveniles have been identified as persons of interest by the FBI in threats to historically Black colleges and universities that appear to be racially motivated.”
* A tragic twist on American exceptionalism: “Two years into the pandemic, the coronavirus is killing Americans at far higher rates than people in other wealthy nations, a sobering distinction to bear as the country charts a course through the next stages of the pandemic.”
* A case worth watching: “Retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani and two allies, alleging that the group conspired to intimidate him out of testifying at the former president’s impeachment proceedings and retaliated against him after he did.”
* The “Havana Syndrome” report: “The mysterious and sudden brain injuries suffered by a small group of American diplomats and spies overseas were most likely caused by pulsed electromagnetic energy delivered by an external device, a panel of scientific experts working for U.S. intelligence agencies has concluded.”
* Important clarity: “Lloyd J. Austin III, the defense secretary, has written a letter to seven Republican governors, rejecting their requests for exemptions from coronavirus vaccination mandates for their states’ National Guard troops.”
* A worthwhile pledge: “The Biden administration has pledged to no longer invoke statements made by a prisoner during his years in C.I.A. custody in his death-penalty proceedings, repudiating an earlier effort to use evidence obtained from torture in a case at Guantanamo Bay.”
* A worthwhile initiative: ” President Biden unveiled a plan on Wednesday to reduce the death rate from cancer by at least 50 percent over the next 25 years — an ambitious new goal, he said, to ‘supercharge’ the cancer ‘moonshot’ program he initiated and presided over five years ago as vice president.” * A nomination I’ve been keeping an eye on: “A Virginia state Senate panel voted 9-6 along party lines Tuesday to block former Trump EPA head Andrew Wheeler from joining Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Cabinet as secretary of natural resources.” * A weird thing for a congressman to lie about: “Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas Republican, has twice in the past three days promoted a fictional online rumor that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau fled to the United States because of a protest in Ottawa by a group of truck drivers and others opposed to vaccine mandates, Covid-19 restrictions and Trudeau himself. Roy even called for Trudeau, who was not in the US, to be deported.” * I have a hunch this will be happening for a while: “A Space Force captain traveling with their spouse stood stunned at the Spirit Airlines ticket counter this past October hoping to take advantage of the company’s waived baggage fees for active-duty service members. But there was a problem: The Spirit employee didn’t believe the Space Force exists.” 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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