Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s latest Oval Office visit went better than the last one: “Speaking to the press during the meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House, the Ukrainian president said that they discussed security guarantees for his country. Zelenskyy said they had a ‘good conversation’ with Trump and spoke about ‘sensitive points.’”
* Sizable protests: “Israeli protesters demanding a deal to free hostages in Gaza attempted to shut down the country Sunday in one of the largest and fiercest protests in 22 months of war. Organizers, representing the families of hostages, asserted that hundreds of thousands of people took part.”
* In Texas: “The Texas measles outbreak that sickened 762 people since late January is over, state health officials said Monday. It’s been more than 42 days since the last new case was confirmed, meeting the threshold public health officials use to declare measles outbreaks over. The last person to have an outbreak-related case got a rash on July 1, according to state data.”
* Wildly unnecessary: “Three Republican-led states said Saturday that they were deploying hundreds of National Guard members to the nation’s capital to bolster the Trump administration’s effort to overhaul policing in Washington through a federal crackdown on crime and homelessness. West Virginia said it was deploying 300 to 400 Guard troops, while South Carolina pledged 200 and Ohio says it will send 150 in the coming days, marking a significant escalation of the federal intervention.”
* News that won’t help with questions about the administration’s competence: “Papers with U.S. State Department markings, found Friday morning in the business center of an Alaskan hotel, revealed previously undisclosed and potentially sensitive details about the Aug. 15 meetings between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir V. Putin in Anchorage.”
* DeSantis sure does lose a lot in court: “A federal judge has closed the chapter on key parts of Florida’s censorious ban on school library books that conservatives deem ‘pornographic’ and harmful to children.”
* A case I’ve been watching: “A federal judge in Washington blocked the Federal Trade Commission from carrying out investigative demands against Media Matters for America, ruling Friday that the agency was likely violating the left-leaning media watchdog group’s First Amendment rights.” * Maybe it was unwise for the Trump administration to abandon federal efforts to combat disinformation: “A pro-Russian propaganda group is taking advantage of high-profile news events to spread disinformation, and it’s spoofing reputable organizations — including news outlets, nonprofits and government agencies — to do so.” * I’m annoyed that I didn’t think of this first: “Who Said It: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or The Simpsons’ Dr. Nick?” 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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