Today’s edition of quick hits.
* In the Middle East: “Israel’s military says it has begun ‘expanded ground operations’ in famine-stricken Gaza City, after calling up 60,000 reservists for an intense new assault on the besieged Palestinian enclave. … Palestinians are fleeing the Palestinian enclave’s largest city and clogging Gaza’s coastal road.”
* Remember months ago, when Trump said to look for a breakthrough in Gaza in two weeks? I guess that’s no longer operable: “Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned on Tuesday that ‘time is running out’ for a negotiated end to the war in Gaza.”
* In Georgia: “Georgia’s highest court has declined to consider Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ appeal of her removal from the Georgia election interference case against President Donald Trump and others.”
* This ought to be interesting: “Susan Monarez, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is set to tell a Senate panel on Wednesday that she was fired ‘for holding the line on scientific integrity.’”
* I’ve lost count of how many reports like these I’ve seen in recent days: “Clemson University fired one employee Monday following a social media post in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Two faculty members also have been removed from teaching duties pending an investigation.”
* Trump imposed tariffs on China. China stopped buying American soybeans. There were consequences: “That decision has had devastating repercussions for farmers in North Dakota, which exported more than 70 percent of its soybeans to China before Trump unveiled the new tariffs this year. Unless China agrees to restart its purchases as part of a trade deal, farmers that depend on the Chinese market will be facing steep losses that could fuel farm bankruptcies and farm foreclosures around the United States.”
* All is not well at The Washington Post: “Karen Attiah, an opinion columnist for The Washington Post, said she was fired last week after posting on social media about gun violence and ‘racial double standards’ following the assassination of the right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk.” * As is often the case, Sotomayor is right: “Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor appeared to take aim at recent remarks by Attorney General Pam Bondi vowing to ‘target’ anyone who uses ‘hate speech’ following the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. ‘Every time I listen to a lawyer-trained representative saying we should criminalize free speech in some way, I think to myself, that law school failed,’ Sotomayor said while speaking on a panel Tuesday morning at New York Law School.” * I don’t even know where to start with this one: “A cloud of smoke from two pounds of methamphetamine seized by the FBI and incinerated inside a Montana animal shelter sent its workers to the hospital, city officials in Billings said.” 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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