Today’s edition of quick hits.
* New Covid policy: “Starting Jan. 5, the United States will require a pre-departure negative Covid test for anyone flying in from China, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday. The new policy comes amid a surge in Covid cases and fears that a new, concerning variant could emerge.”
* Kidnapping plot: “A man convicted of playing a key role in the plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was sentenced to 19½ years in prison Wednesday, more than what was meted out to a co-defendant.”
* Interesting ruling: “The Jan. 6 select committee’s finding that Donald Trump lured followers to storm the Capitol does not absolve them of legal responsibility for their actions, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, the first opinion to cite the congressional panel’s criminal referrals of the former president.”
* All is not well in Florida: “A top aide to Gov. Ron DeSantis used a private email address with the alias ‘Clarice Starling’ — a reference to the Hannibal Lecter serial killer novels — to help his former client win a state contract to operate Florida’s controversial migrant flight program, recently released public records show.”
* ATF targets ghost guns: “The Biden administration is closing a major loophole in a new federal rule intended to regulate the sale of pistol parts that can readily be turned into untraceable homemade firearms, in an aggressive expansion of its crackdown on so-called ghost guns.” * This seems entirely fair: “The House sergeant at arms, who was the head of the D.C. National Guard during the attack on the Capitol, told the Jan. 6 committee that the law enforcement response would have looked much different had the rioters been Black Americans.” * The Webb telescope is such an impressive a triumph: “The first scientific results are coming in, and the $10 billion instrument is working even better than astronomers had dared to hope.” 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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