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Today’s edition of quick hits.
* UAW: “The ongoing United Auto Workers strike is expanding. UAW President Shawn Fain called for union members to strike at noon ET Friday at 38 General Motors and Stellantis facilities across 20 states. He said the strike call covers all of GM and Stellantis’ parts distribution facilities. The strike call notably excludes Ford, the third member of Detroit’s Big Three, suggesting the UAW is more satisfied with the progress it has made on a new contract with that company.”
* In related news, President Joe Biden, just a short while ago, published this to social media: “Tuesday, I’ll go to Michigan to join the picket line and stand in solidarity with the men and women of UAW as they fight for a fair share of the value they helped create. It’s time for a win-win agreement that keeps American auto manufacturing thriving with well-paid UAW jobs.”
* Aid for Ukraine: “President Joe Biden has told his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that the United States will provide a small number of long-range missiles to aid the war with Russia, three U.S. officials and a congressional official familiar with the discussions told NBC News on Friday.”
* The latest Jan. 6 prison sentence: “A man who attacked an Associated Press photographer and threw a flagpole and smoke grenade at police officers guarding the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced on Friday to five years in prison. Rodney Milstreed, 56, of Finksburg, Maryland, ‘prepared himself for battle’ on Jan. 6 by injecting steroids and arming himself with a four-foot wooden club disguised as a flagpole, prosecutors said.”
* At the White House: “President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday announced the creation of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, saying the steps his administration is taking ‘will save lives.’ The office, which Harris will oversee, is intended to find a way around congressional inaction on stronger gun control laws.”
* This was obviously the right assessment: “The Biden administration is not violating any federal law by allowing acting Labor Secretary Julie Su to serve indefinitely despite her stalled Senate nomination, according to a Government Accountability Office report issued Thursday.”
* If there’s a competition for the worst judge in the federal judiciary, I have a nominee: “U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, quickly becoming one of the most well-known Donald Trump appointees, cited an anti-LGBTQ group in a new ruling concluding that drag shows are too ‘sexualized’ for children and likely not entitled to First Amendment protection.”
Have a safe weekend.