Maddow Blog | Friday’s Mini-Report, 5.17.24

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* Oct. 7 victims: “Israeli officials on Friday announced that their forces in Gaza had recovered the bodies of three revelers killed by Hamas attackers near the Supernova, or Nova, music festival on Oct. 7.”

* In related news: “Trucks carrying humanitarian aid began moving ashore into Gaza Friday using a temporary pier built by the United States, delivering desperately needed supplies to the besieged Palestinian enclave. The floating dock is part of a makeshift effort to stave off a possible famine in Gaza, where Israel’s military assault has shut off a number of crossings that are crucial for supplies of food, fuel and other aid.”

* The latest Jan. 6 sentence: “[Brent Bozell IV, a] man whose family members were key architects of the American conservative movement, was sentenced Friday to nearly four years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.”

* This plea shouldn't be confused with Eastman’s other plea in Georgia: “John Eastman, a former attorney for former president Donald Trump, pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges related to a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results in Arizona.”

* If there’s a persuasive defense for this, I’m not aware of it: “More than a year after a Travis County jury convicted Daniel Perry of murdering a protester in Austin, Gov. Greg Abbott pardoned Perry, 37, on Thursday shortly after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended a full pardon. A Texas state district court judge sentenced Perry in May 2023 to 25 years in prison for shooting and killing U.S. Air Force veteran Garrett Foster during a 2020 demonstration protesting police brutality against people of color.”

* The latest Republican-imposed trainwreck: “A House Oversight Committee meeting Thursday night devolved into chaos amid personal attacks and partisan bickering in a rare evening session that was supposed to center on a resolution recommending Attorney General Merrick Garland be held in contempt of Congress. The already tense hearing was derailed when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., responded to a question from Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, by saying, ‘I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.’”

* Even by contemporary standards, this is unusually bonkers: “Republican senators in North Carolina passed a bill Wednesday revoking a pandemic-era law allowing for masks to be worn in public for health concerns.”

* Hmm: “Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell opened a new front in his battle to shape the Trump-era GOP this week when he torched Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and called out Republicans who have sought to boost the far-right strongman.”

Have a safe weekend.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com