Today’s edition of quick hits.

* JD Vance’s prospective role in looming talks apparently matters: “An Iranian delegation, led by Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, will travel to Islamabad for peace talks with the U.S. on Tuesday only if Vance is present, a foreign diplomat in Tehran who is in close contact with Iran’s parliamentary speaker and indirectly involved in the peace talks, told MS NOW.”

* The latest on the mass shooting in Louisiana: “A man killed eight children, including seven of his own, and shot two women in an attack in a Shreveport, Louisiana, neighborhood that was the nation’s deadliest shooting in more than two years, authorities said.”

* The latest on the mass shooting in North Carolina: “Law enforcement in North Carolina responded Monday to a deadly mass shooting at a park in Winston-Salem that escalated from what authorities said was a planned fight. One 17-year-old and another 16-year-old were killed and five others were wounded. Those wounded range in age from 14 years old to 19 years old. The condition of those wounded ranges from minor injuries to critical condition.”

* The latest on the mass shooting in Iowa: “Five people, including three University of Iowa students, were injured in Iowa City after shots were fired during a fight at the downtown pedestrian plaza early Sunday morning, according to the city. No arrests have been made.”

* The 52nd such strike: “The U.S. military attacked a boat in the Caribbean Sea on Sunday, killing three people. The strike raised the death toll to at least 180 in the campaign by the United States against people it accuses of smuggling drugs at sea.”

* Michigan is the latest in a radical series: “Michigan officials are pushing back on a demand from the Trump administration that the state provide election materials — including ballots, ballot receipts and ballot envelopes — to prove election fraud did not occur in November 2024.”

* The latest on the ballroom: “A federal appeals court on Friday allowed construction on President Trump’s ballroom project to proceed through early June, pausing, for now, a lower court’s order that construction stop after next week.”

* I have a hunch anything resembling a UAE bailout would be politically unpopular: “The United Arab Emirates has opened talks with the U.S. about obtaining a financial backstop in case the Iran war plunges the oil-rich Persian Gulf state into a deeper crisis, U.S. officials said.”

* The New York Times’ reporting on the origins of the Supreme Court’s “shadow docket” was extremely impressive, though I find myself stuck on the high court’s seeming inability to stop the leaks.

* Two of the unanswered questions surrounding this deceptive campaign are who’s behind it and whether its origins are outside the United States: “In the months leading up to the midterm elections, hundreds of accounts have emerged on social media featuring A.I.-generated pro-Trump influencers posting at a rapid pace about the ‘radical left’ and ‘America First.’ They tend to appear as ordinary — if very good-looking — men and women, gazing flirtatiously at the camera while pontificating about the war in Iran, abortion or Bad Bunny.”

See you tomorrow.

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