Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The latest from the shooting in Las Vegas: “The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department responded this afternoon to reports of an active shooter on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Multiple victims were killed, two senior law enforcement officials briefed on the matter told NBC News. … Police said the suspect has been located and is dead.”
* The latest from the shootings in Texas: “A suspect is in custody in Texas after six people were killed and three were injured in homicides and shootings near San Antonio and in Austin on Tuesday, authorities said.”
* A prosecution worth watching: “The Justice Department has charged four Russian soldiers with war crimes in connection with the invasion of Ukraine. … The indictment, returned in the Eastern District of Virginia, alleges that the four interrogated, beat and tortured an American victim, threatening to kill him in a mock execution.”
* The White House’s plea: “President Biden made an urgent plea to congressional lawmakers Wednesday to pass billions of dollars in Ukraine aid, warning that a failure to do so would hand Russian President Vladimir Putin a victory and embolden him to invade European countries beyond Ukraine. ‘This cannot wait,’ Biden said. ‘It’s stunning that we’ve gotten to this point in the first place … Republicans in Congress that are willing to give Putin the greatest gift he could hope for.’”
* In related news: “A classified briefing for senators on the White House’s request for aid for Israel and Ukraine became ‘heated’ Tuesday, with Republican members storming out of the meeting. The briefing, led by the secretaries of defense and state, as well as the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was held behind closed doors to allow all 100 senators to ask questions about the administration’s funding request. But it fell apart, senators from both parties said, after Republicans began asking about the border.”
* This deal would reauthorize FISA through April: “Lawmakers have reached an agreement to temporarily extend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), three sources tell NBC News, a move that could save the intelligence community from losing a key tool when it expires at the end of the year.” * Every judicial confirmation matters, but some stand out more than others: “The U.S. Senate on Monday confirmed the first Latina judge to serve on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, giving Democratic President Joe Biden his second appointee on a court whose conservative majority has often blocked his policies. The Senate voted 80-12 to elevate U.S. Magistrate Irma Carrillo Ramirez to the New Orleans-based court, where she would become the fifth active Democratic appointee on a court dominated by the 12 judges nominated by Republican presidents.” * Will GOP leaders care? “Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer pushed Rep. Thomas Massie to take down a post with a meme accusing Congress of putting ‘Zionism’ over ‘American patriotism.’” 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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