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Wednesday's Mini-Report, 5.19.21

Today's edition of quick hits.

Today's edition of quick hits:

* Middle East: "In his most emphatic statement since the latest Mideast violence began, President Joe Biden told his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Wednesday that he expects a 'significant de-escalation' of violence between Israel and Palestinian militants 'on the path to a cease-fire,' the White House said."

* This is important: "Louisiana state troopers were captured on body camera video stunning, punching and dragging a Black man as he apologized for leading them on a high-speed chase -- footage of the man's last moments alive that The Associated Press obtained after authorities refused to release it for two years."

* This unfortunate list keeps growing: "Texas, Indiana and Oklahoma this week joined the growing number of states that are withdrawing from federal pandemic-related unemployment benefits."

* Michael Kuperberg returns: "The White House announced Wednesday that it has reinstated the former director of the office that writes the government's official climate change assessments, six months after he was ousted in the waning weeks of the Trump administration."

* Elections have consequences: "The United States has ended a policy that denied U.S. citizenship to some children born abroad to gay Americans."

* Congressional rules are routinely exasperating: "Democrats want to raise billions of dollars by giving the IRS more money to go after tax cheats — and use the money to pay for their infrastructure spending plans. There's one problem: That isn't allowed under Congress' arcane budget rules."

* Worthwhile reforms: "Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday signed one of the nation's most ambitious packages of police accountability legislation, prompted by last year's outcry for racial justice following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black people at the hands of police. The dozen bills Inslee signed include outright bans on police use of chokeholds, neck restraints and no-knock warrants such as the one that helped lead to Taylor's killing in Louisville, Kentucky."

* A century later: "She had just turned 7 years old when a White mob descended on her all-Black neighborhood in a murderous rage. 'I'm a survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre,' Viola Fletcher, 107, told members of a House Judiciary subcommittee Wednesday. 'Two weeks ago, I celebrated my 107th birthday. Today, I'm visiting Washington, D.C., for the first time in my life. I'm here seeking justice and asking my country to acknowledge what happened in Tulsa in 1921.'"

See you tomorrow.