Today’s edition of quick hits.

* An accomplishment-free get-together: “President Xi Jinping of China concluded a three-day visit to Washington on Friday for which President Trump included plenty of pageantry, but that produced little in terms of policy announcements on significant matters of tension, like artificial intelligence, trade or the war in Iran.”

* Take a wild guess which six justices made up the six-member majority in this case: “The Supreme Court’s GOP-appointed majority granted an emergency bid from the Trump administration to use a citizenship database, over dissent from the court’s Democratic appointees that said the majority prioritized nonexistent harms to the government over real harms to voters.”

* The Defense Department continues to play accounting games: “The Pentagon’s public tally of troops wounded during the Iran war was quietly increased by 37 this week without explanation from the Defense Department. The increase includes 29 Navy sailors and eight Marines, according to a review of the Pentagon’s public database of personnel killed and wounded during U.S. conflicts and other military operations overseas. The web portal is called the Defense Casualty Analysis System, or DCAS.”

* When the wrong person is forced out: “The prosecutor tasked with overseeing the Trump administration’s failed prosecutions of six anti-ICE protesters resigned this week and accused the U.S. attorney in Chicago of interfering in the case, according to reports. In a three-page letter obtained by the Chicago Tribune and other news outlets, Sheri Mecklenburg said she was ‘retiring under protest’ after U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros in the Northern District of Illinois ‘personally directed’ the pursuit of felony charges in the Broadview Six case.”

* I sometimes have to remind myself that this case has yet to be laughed out of court: “A federal judge has postponed the arraignment for former FBI Director James Comey in the ‘seashells’ case following a request from his attorneys to postpone all proceedings in light of his several motions to dismiss the indictment.”

* Dale Caldwell’s career in politics ends in disgrace just nine months after his election: “New Jersey Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell has resigned after an investigation commissioned by Gov. Mikie Sherrill found that his behavior toward women violated state ethics rules, the governor said at a news conference on Friday. Caldwell, who also served as secretary of state, submitted his resignation on Friday afternoon.”

* Team Trump’s refugee policy is an underappreciated scandal: “The Trump administration notified Congress on Tuesday that it once again plans to limit the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program to 17,500 admissions next year, primarily white South Africans. … It would make 2027 the second year in which refugees fleeing religious persecution are afforded no pathway to resettlement in the U.S.”

* Maybe the administration would benefit from some kind of efficiency initiative: “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies have wasted tens of millions of dollars pursuing ill-conceived plans to rapidly increase detention capacity, and the total will likely rise due to ongoing mismanagement, congressional investigators warned Thursday.”

* If the White House goes after the pope again, at least we’ll know why: “Pope Leo XIV told journalists they were welcome to report on him, as he responded to the Trump administration’s attempt to bar U.S. media from the White House and affirmed the importance of journalists covering public figures.”

Have a safe weekend.

The post Friday’s Mini-Report, 9.25.26 appeared first on MS NOW.

Author: Source Author

From MS Now.