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Today's edition of quick hits:
* Syria: "President Joe Biden on Thursday ordered airstrikes on buildings in Syria that the Pentagon said were used by Iranian-backed militias, in retaliation for rocket attacks on U.S. targets in neighboring Iraq."
* Asking responsible questions: "The Biden administration is taking heat from fellow Democrats as lawmakers pressure the White House to provide a legal justification for an airstrike launched Thursday against Iran-backed militia groups in Syria."
* The Khashoggi report: "A long-awaited American intelligence report made public Friday concludes that the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia approved the gruesome political killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident journalist who lived in Virginia and wrote for the Washington Post."
* On a related note, today's revelations make Trump look much worse.
* Vaccine news: "An independent advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration voted Friday to recommend that the agency authorize Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 vaccine. Members of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, or VRBPAC, voted unanimously in favor of recommending authorization."
* An unsettling Associated Press review: "A faction of local, county and state Republican officials is pushing lies, misinformation and conspiracy theories that echo those that helped inspire the violent U.S. Capitol siege, online messaging that is spreading quickly through GOP ranks fueled by algorithms that boost extreme content."
* An important report: "A Defense Department report highlights disturbing examples of white supremacy inside the military, calling for changes in how the department screens recruits for possible ties to domestic extremism. The report, which the Trump administration drafted last year before the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, was sent to Congress in October, but it has not been made public until now."
* Climate crisis: "Pledges made so far by countries around the globe to cut greenhouse gas emissions fall strikingly short of the profound changes necessary to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change, the United Nations said Friday."
* Fritz Berggren: "A State Department official for several years has been publicly calling for the establishment of Christian nation-states, warning that white people face 'elimination' and railing against Jews as well as Black Lives Matter and other social movements."
Have a safe weekend.