Today’s edition of quick hits:
* California: “Parts of the West Coast woke up Wednesday to orange skies, an ominous effect of rapidly spreading wildfires that have destroyed homes and forced thousands of people to evacuate in California, Oregon and Washington. In the Bay Area, there was no sunrise visible as a mix of fog and smoke from weeks of fires enveloped towns and cities in a haze that resembled perpetual pre-dawn light.”
* This is not a good policy: “Under a presidential memorandum issued by the Trump administration, tens of thousands of service members and Defense Department civilians will get a tax break beginning this month as part of efforts to boost the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. But while these men and women will see larger paychecks for now, they will have to pay all the money back in 2021.”
* McGahn case: “The House Judiciary Committee asked a federal appeals court on Tuesday to rehear the case over its subpoena to former White House counsel Don McGahn after a panel of judges dismissed the lawsuit in a ruling that would essentially render the House’s subpoenas legally unenforceable.”
* DeJoy controversy: “North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said Tuesday that a dubious campaign finance scheme reportedly perpetrated by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy ‘merits investigation’ by authorities.”
* Speaking of USPS: “A powerful but little-known group of Republican donors installed by President Trump to oversee the United States Postal Service has helped raise more than $3 million to support him and hundreds of millions more for his party over the past decade, prompting concerns about partisan bias at the agency before the November election.”
* That was quick: “President Trump’s reelection campaign is paying to replace sod on the White House South Lawn and in the Rose Garden after damage to the greenery late last month from large crowds and heavy equipment used for Republican National Convention festivities, White House and campaign officials said Tuesday.”
* Evidently, climate catastrophes are expensive: “A report commissioned by federal regulators overseeing the nation’s commodities markets has concluded that climate change threatens U.S. financial markets, as the costs of wildfires, storms, droughts and floods spread through insurance and mortgage markets, pension funds and other financial institutions.”
* A curious thing to admit: “The United Kingdom has come under fire at home and abroad for saying it is prepared to break international law by breaching the terms of a treaty governing its departure from the European Union.” * Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) has a new plan in mind to overhaul how the U.S. Senate functions. His blueprint is spectacularly unpersuasive, impractical, and misguided, but at least he wrote it down. * Seriously? “Donald Trump Jr., the son of President Donald Trump, likened 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse’s alleged killing of two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin to teenage antics on Tuesday.” * And though I’m sure it was just a blunder, the president vowed to supporters last night, “We are going to be appointing very pro-crime judges.” Good to know. 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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