Today’s edition of quick hits.
* In the Middle East: “Israel’s defense minister on Wednesday ordered all remaining Palestinians to leave Gaza City, saying it was their ‘last opportunity’ and that anyone who stayed would be considered a militant supporter and face the ‘full force’ of Israel’s latest offensive.”
* I wish stories about megachurch pastors and sexual abuse were less common: “Robert Morris, the Texas megachurch pastor who built Gateway Church into one of the largest congregations in the country, pleaded guilty Thursday in Osage County District Court to charges that he sexually abused a girl in the 1980s. Morris, 64, entered the plea before Judge Cindy Pickerill, admitting to five felony counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child.”
* Solidarity can make a big difference: “Nonprofit groups with disparate missions are banding together in an alliance aimed at protecting one another if they become targets of President Donald Trump’s ire, people involved in the initiative said.”
* An intensifying climate crisis: “Switzerland’s glaciers have faced ‘enormous’ melting this year with a 3% drop in total volume — the fourth-largest annual drop on record — due to the effects of global warming, top Swiss glaciologists reported Wednesday.”
* This seems like a very bad idea: “The lead U.S. agency for protecting the electric grid, water supply and other critical services from hacking has furloughed most of its already trimmed-down staff in the government shutdown, just as a decade-old law giving companies leeway to collaborate on cyberdefense expired. The twin impacts leave employees at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and outside professionals unsettled as they try to fend off a surge in sophisticated hacks from China as well as continued ransomware threats.”
* So many power grabs, so little time to document them all: “The White House on Wednesday abruptly fired a large share of the council members advising the National Endowment for the Humanities, retaining only four appointees of President Donald Trump, according to terminated members reached by The Washington Post and an updated list on the agency’s website.”
* A case worth watching: “The Trump administration’s unprecedented efforts to aggregate the personal data of Americans are facing a new legal challenge. A class action federal lawsuit filed Tuesday argues the Trump administration’s actions that aggregated personal data on hundreds of millions of Americans from various federal agencies violated federal privacy laws and the U.S. Constitution, put sensitive data at risk of security breaches, and could lead to the disenfranchisement of eligible voters.” * All is not well at the bureau: “The FBI said on Wednesday it had cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish group that tracks antisemitism, after Republicans criticized the group for including slain activist Charlie Kirk’s organization in a glossary on extremism.” * The White House Cabinet just got a little smaller: “The post of United Nations ambassador isn’t a Cabinet position, according to sources familiar with the matter, as President Trump signals the decreased importance of the U.N. to his administration.” See you tomorrow.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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