Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Powerful testimony: “Miah Cerrillo, a fourth grader at Robb Elementary who survived the shooting after smearing her dead classmate’s blood on herself and pretending to be dead, shared her story with members of Congress Wednesday.”
* On a related note, we should apparently expect a DOJ report out of Uvalde by the end of the year: “Justice Department officials said on Wednesday that they planned to conduct a comprehensive, ‘transparent’ and expedited investigation into the law enforcement response to the school massacre last month in Uvalde, Texas.”
* A scary story: “An armed man was arrested overnight near the home of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh after he called 911 on himself, law enforcement officials said Wednesday. Officials say the man, identified as Nicholas John Roske, 26, was armed with a handgun, a knife, pepper spray and burglary tools. He was stopped a block away from the justice’s house. And when police detained him, he said he was there to kill Kavanaugh, these officials say.”
* In Ukraine: “Ukrainian troops may soon have to retreat from a key eastern city, the region’s governor and Western military analysts said Wednesday, as Russian advances force them back. Soldiers defending Sievierodonetsk are still “fighting for every inch” but may have to pull back as Russia throws everything it has at gaining control of the city, Luhansk Gov. Sergiy Haidai said early Wednesday.”
* An avoidable mess: “After failing to get additional Covid funding from Congress, the White House will divert more than $10 billion it had planned to spend on testing and personal protective equipment to buy new vaccines and treatments it anticipates needing this fall.”
* Another step backwards: “Iran says it has turned off two U.N. cameras monitoring its nuclear work, just as the United States and European governments were poised to rebuke Tehran over the regime’s failure to cooperate with an international probe of its nuclear program.”
* DHS warning: “A looming Supreme Court decision on abortion, an increase of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border and the midterm elections are potential triggers for extremist violence over the next six months, the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday.”
* I’ve never really understood Republican hysterics about Facebook: “A change to Facebook’s recommendation system likely accounted for a disproportionate boost in visibility and engagement to conservative political groups on the social media platform starting in 2018, according to research published Wednesday.” * Mexican journalists are facing deadly threats: “A group of Democratic members of Congress wants the Biden administration to review a U.S.-funded program meant to protect Mexican journalists amid a wave of unpunished killings. The lawmakers say the U.S. needs to do more to promote journalists’ safety.” * Seems like a thread worth pulling on: “The House Oversight Committee opened a new investigation into foreign gifts received by former President Trump during his final year in office, according to a letter the committee sent to the National Archives on Monday.” 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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