Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Wildfires in the Greater Los Angeles area have now killed at least 24 people: “Southern California is braced for ‘extremely critical fire conditions’ caused by a new period of Santa Ana winds today through tomorrow across parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, as the battle to contain raging blazes goes on.”
* In the Middle East: “Israel and Hamas are ‘on the brink’ of agreeing on a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of hostages held there, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said on Tuesday, raising hopes for some respite to the violence after more than 15 months of war.”
* In Russia: “Moscow said Tuesday that Ukraine had fired six U.S.-made ATACMS ballistic missiles, six UK-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles and at least 146 drones into Russia in an attack that it said would not go unanswered.”
* This bill is likely to fail in the Senate: “A divided House on Tuesday approved legislation that aims to bar transgender women and girls from participating in school athletic programs designated for female students, as Republicans sought to wring political opportunity from a social issue that helped them win the 2024 elections. The bill, approved almost entirely along party lines on a vote of 218 to 206, would prohibit federal funding from going to K-12 schools that include transgender students on women’s sports teams.”
* Team Trump’s approach to loyalty is increasingly unsettling: “Michael Allen, a longtime Republican national security expert, was recently ousted as the ‘sherpa’ for CIA director nominee John Ratcliffe because he had co-hosted a campaign fundraiser for Liz Cheney, according to three people familiar with the matter.”
* I shudder to think what will happen to CFPB efforts like these after next week: “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced Tuesday that it was suing Capital One for misleading consumers about their savings account interest rates and ‘cheating’ them out of more than $2 billion in interest.” * From the FDA: “With just days left in the Biden administration, the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday unveiled its highly anticipated proposal to require manufacturers to display nutrition information on the front of packaged foods.” * It continues to be remarkable that state officials even have to consider steps like these: “New Jersey is going to build up a supply of medication used in abortions, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy announced Tuesday during his state of the state address as he both pledged to work with President-elect Donald Trump and warned that the state is ready to push back against the incoming 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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