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Today's edition of quick hits:
* A signal of things to come: "President Donald Trump said his former adviser Roger Stone has 'a very good chance of exoneration,' hours after the GOP operative was sentenced to 40 months behind bars for obstructing a congressional investigation of Russia's 2016 presidential election meddling."
* Germany's mass shooting: "Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday condemned the deadly shootings in the city of Hanau the night before, saying they exposed the 'poison' of racism in German society. Merkel spoke in Berlin on Thursday morning, hours after a gunman killed 10 people and injured several others in two separate attacks outside hookah lounges before fatally shooting himself in his home."
* Brittan Atkinson allegedly targeted Mark Zaid the day after Trump went after Zaid at a rally: "Federal prosecutors in Michigan have charged a man with making a death threat against one of the attorneys for a whistleblower who initiated the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, according to newly unsealed court records."
* Victoria Coates, Trump's deputy national security adviser, has a new gig: "The White House is transferring a senior national security aide who fell under suspicion of writing an anonymous insider account of dissent within the Trump administration, the latest of several senior personnel moves stemming from questions of loyalty to President Trump."
* The Republic of Georgia: "The United States joined several countries on Thursday in accusing Russia of a major cyberattack in the Republic of Georgia, pledging to hold the Kremlin accountable. The Oct. 28 attack knocked thousands of government and private websites offline and interrupted television broadcasts."
* If only scientific truths could transcend partisanship: "Climate Change Rises as a Public Priority. But It's More Partisan Than Ever."
* Donald Trump Jr. told an audience this week, "I happen to be a relatively good social media troll. It's genetic. You can't turn it off, folks. You can't turn off millions of years of evolution." Noted without comment.
See you tomorrow.