Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The latest on the Kennedy Center: “A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Kennedy Center to provide 30 days’ notice before making any major physical changes to the building, including demolishing it as President Donald Trump has threatened. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper said his ruling would ‘avoid any confusion on that score given more recent events,’ including the sudden closure of the building to the public on Wednesday.”
* Following the release of this report, the United States formally withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council: “Experts commissioned by the U.N.’s top human rights body say they have found ‘reasonable grounds’ to believe the United States committed war crimes in two strikes in Iran, including on a school in the southern city of Minab. They also accuse Iran’s theocratic government of carrying out crimes against humanity against its own people in a report published Thursday.”
* I’ve lost count of how many times this has happened, but the DOJ has now lost roughly two dozen times: “The federal government has no right to demand Vermont’s statewide voter registration list, ruled a federal judge Thursday.”
* It’s hard not to wonder whether Trump will pardon the accused: “An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who faces charges in Minnesota related to the shooting of a Venezuelan man is scheduled to make his first court appearance in Minneapolis on Thursday afternoon. The officer, Christian Castro … has been charged with assault and falsely reporting a crime in the shooting of 24-year-old Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis during federal immigration operations in Minneapolis in January.”
* Gas prices are bad and likely to get worse: “The effects of the U.S.-led war on Iran are about to intensify in the form of huge jumps in the prices of gasoline and diesel, analysts predict. And despite the Trump administration’s assurances, a new and potentially even more economically damaging phase of the war may be about to begin.”
* It’s probably fair to say Trump hates South Africa about as much as he hates windmills: “The Trump administration imposed visa restrictions on selected South Africans on Tuesday and warned that it could take further punitive actions if South African leaders did not address President Trump’s concerns over what he sees as discrimination against white people.”
* Efforts to gut the Endangered Species Act are ongoing: “In what would be a seismic shift, the Trump administration is quietly moving to strip a core protection of the Endangered Species Act, according to an internal memo obtained by The New York Times. Under a new interpretation of the law’s language outlined in the memo, the accidental killing or injury of an animal would no longer be considered illegal; only actions specifically intending to target an animal would.”
* I wish news like this were more surprising: “President Donald Trump has traded more securities than every member of Congress combined since he returned to office — even as he seeks to pass a stock-purchasing ban for lawmakers that would exclude him from any restrictions.”
* Maybe the elected officials chosen to represent the public’s interest could do something: “OpenAI on Wednesday disclosed six new instances in which artificial intelligence systems hid mistakes, made up data and moved files onto the open internet without permission, amid an ongoing industrywide debate about A.I. safety.”
* I have no background in medicine, but from a distance, McConnell did not appear well: “Sen. Mitch McConnell entered the Senate Agriculture Committee meeting Wednesday at the moment he was needed — to cast the deciding vote that advanced the farm bill. The Kentucky Republican’s only contribution was an ‘aye,’ as staff and other senators watched closely to make sure he voted so.”
* We’re stuck in such a mind-numbing timeline: “AccuWeather and the National Weather Service have started using ‘Lake America’ in their forecasts this week. The National Weather Service released a memo Monday stating the organization is in the process of changing its maps from ‘Lake Ontario’ to ‘Lake America.’”
See you tomorrow.
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