By
Today's edition of quick hits:
* Troop deployment status: "The more than 1,600 active-duty soldiers who were called to Washington, D.C., in case President Donald Trump invoked the Insurrection Act to deal with protestors may soon go back to their bases around the country 'if conditions allow,' a senior defense official told NBC News."
* Las Vegas: "Federal prosecutors in Las Vegas have charged three men alleged to be members of the far-right extremist 'Boogaloo' movement with multiple state and federal violations of conspiracy to cause destruction during protests in Las Vegas, as well as possession of Molotov cocktails."
* Virginia: "In a rebuke of Confederate glorification, Gov. Ralph Northam on Thursday called for the swift removal of a bronze statue depicting Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from Richmond's Monument Avenue -- a response to the recent local and nationwide protests over systemic racism and police brutality."
* Presidential guidance: "Former President Barack Obama offered advice to demonstrators during a virtual town hall on Wednesday in his first on-camera remarks as growing unrest against police brutality continues across the country."
* At least 20,000 tons of diesel fuel: "A major fuel spill in Siberia has prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin to declare a state of emergency in an environmentally sensitive Arctic region after publicly scolding local authorities for what he said was a botched response."
* Someone new in the tech industry for the White House to be mad at: "Donald Trump's campaign expanded its war against Silicon Valley tech companies on Wednesday to include Snapchat, blasting the platform for taking some of the most aggressive measures yet to curtail Trump's incendiary rhetoric."
* The latest study the White House will pretend not to notice: "Hydroxychloroquine was no better than a placebo at preventing symptoms of COVID-19 among people exposed to the coronavirus, according to research from the University of Minnesota Medical School."
* Trying to smear protesters, Team Trump misled the public with a deceptive video: "[T]his 58-second video employed out-of-context social clips to lob unproven accusations and create a misleading impression of what has happened during the Floyd protests. Nothing in the video proves who incited violence or that any of the bricks shown in this video 'were staged' to prepare for a street fight."
* Noted without comment: "Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King, a pariah within his own party for racist comments and whom K Street interests worked to defeat this week, shouldn't expect a lucrative lobbying gig awaiting him when he exits Congress."
* Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) acknowledged yesterday that he's "holding up quick passage of anti-lynching legislation, saying that he wants the bill to be clarified first."
See you tomorrow.