Quick Hits

*** The American Federation of Government Employees is suing for an injunction against enforcement of guidance from the Office of Special Counsel that cautioned federal employees that advocating for the impeachment of President Donald Trump or the use or display of terms like "resist" and "resistance" in the workplace constitutes political speech under the Hatch Act.

"AFGE's members include federal employees whose speech has been prohibited or chilled by the Office of Special Counsel’s guidance relating to advocacy for or against impeachment and to use of the term “#Resist” and variations thereof," the complaint states. So far the Office of Special Counsel hasn't responded to the complaint.

*** The House Homeland Security Committee issued a subpoena to compel the testimony of James Watkins, the owner of the 8chan website that is linked to online extremism and violence. Watkins is a U.S. citizen living in the Philippines.

"At least three acts of deadly white supremacist extremist violence have been linked to 8chan in the last six months," said committee chairman and ranking member Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) in a joint statement. "We have questions on what is being done to counter this trend so we can be sure it is being properly addressed. Receiving testimony from Mr. Watkins is critical to our oversight on this matter."

*** The General Services Administration announced plans to retire the FedBizOpps government contracting website on Nov. 8. Procurement announcements and information will be hosted on beta.SAM.gov, the new home for the System of Award Management.