Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The Supreme Court might not be in session, but Republican-appointed justices are still delivering for the White House: “The Supreme Court granted the Trump administration’s bid to halt a trial judge’s ruling that had blocked mass layoffs of federal employees across the executive branch. There was no breakdown of how the Supreme Court justices voted, though Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Biden appointee, was the only justice to provide a dissenting opinion.”
* The latest from Texas: “At least 108 people are dead across six counties. In Kerr County, officials reported the deaths of 57 adults and 30 children as of this morning. … Rescue crews continue to comb through the region, but hope is fading for survivors.”
* The lingering question on this, however, is whether the White House will send everything it was supposed to send, or some portion of what Ukraine was expecting: “President Donald Trump said Monday the U.S. will have to send more weapons to Ukraine, just days after ordering a pause in critical weapons deliveries to Kyiv. The comments by Trump appeared to be an abrupt change in posture after the Pentagon announced last week that it would hold back delivering to Ukraine some air defense missiles, precision-guided artillery and other weapons because of what U.S. officials said were concerns that stockpiles have declined too much.”
* A new kind of diplomatic challenge: “An impostor pretending to be Secretary of State Marco Rubio contacted foreign ministers, a U.S. governor and a member of Congress by sending them voice and text messages that mimic Rubio’s voice and writing style using artificial intelligence-powered software, according to a senior U.S. official and a State Department cable obtained by The Washington Post.”
* A preliminary win for Planned Parenthood: “A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from barring Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood under a provision of the Republicans’ sweeping tax and spending package.”
* I still have no idea why the Department of Homeland Security launched an unnecessary operation at MacArthur Park: “Federal officers and National Guard troops fanned out around a mostly empty Los Angeles park in a largely immigrant neighborhood on foot, horseback and military vehicles on Monday for about an hour before abruptly leaving, an operation that local officials said seemed designed to sow fear.”
* For the record, a total of 30,000 layoffs is better than the original 83,000 layoffs, but it’s still a lot: “The Department of Veterans Affairs said Monday that it will no longer be forced to conduct a large reduction in workforce, unlike several other federal agencies that were forced to make mass layoffs because of the Trump administration’s U.S. DOGE Service.” * It’s now OK to keep your shoes on at some airports’ security lines: “The Transportation Safety Administration will allow passengers at selected airports to keep their footwear on as they go through security checkpoints, a senior government official tells NBC News. People in screening lanes will have to keep their shoes on at selected airports, but the source said the relaxation of the rules could expand nationwide in the near future.” * Some welcome news out of Minnesota: “The Minnesota state senator who, along with his wife, was among the first victims in a June shooting spree that took the life of a fellow lawmaker was released from intensive care. Sen. John Hoffman is out of a hospital intensive care unit, his wife, Yvette Hoffman, who was released five days after she was treated for injuries sustained in the June 14 attack, [officials] confirmed Monday.” 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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