Today’s edition of quick hits:
* North Korea’s latest line included a “dotard” reference, suggesting conditions are regressing: “U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments on military force and the North’s leader, Kim Jong Un, would represent ‘a very dangerous challenge’ if they were intended to provoke Pyongyang, a top North Korean diplomat said on Thursday.”
* The latest on the Hawaii shooting: “A U.S. sailor fatally shot two civilian Defense Department employees and wounded a third at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in Hawaii on Wednesday before killing himself, military officials said. Rear Adm. Robert Chadwick said the civilian shipyard worker who was wounded is stable.”
* Protecting natural resources: “A Texas judge granted a temporary restraining order this week to the opponents of a crowdfunded project to build part of President Trump’s border wall, siding with a butterfly conservancy that sued over its projected environmental impact.”
* Brutal images: “Drawings done in captivity by the first prisoner known to undergo ‘enhanced interrogation’ portray his account of what happened to him in vivid and disturbing ways.”
* A case worth watching: “The nation’s hospital groups sued the Trump administration on Wednesday over a new federal rule that would require them to disclose the discounted prices they give insurers for all sorts of procedures.” * Trump says a great many things that aren’t true: “President Donald Trump has claimed that he does not know Prince Andrew, but a recently resurfaced interview with People from 2000 says otherwise, showing Trump describing Andrew as ‘a lot of fun to be with.’” * Noted without comment: “Former Playboy model Karen McDougal sued Fox News on Thursday claiming that host Tucker Carlson defamed her on his show by falsely claiming that she tried to blackmail Donald Trump about the affair she says they had before he was elected president.” 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." Recommended
