Today’s edition of quick hits:
* San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz “denounced on Tuesday the U.S. federal government’s plan to end emergency food and water aid to [Puerto Rico], saying she had just sent powdered milk to a school that was still operating without power and struggling to have the necessary supplies for its students.”
* It’s not too late to tweak the speech: “The Dow Jones suffered a triple-digit drop on Tuesday — just hours before President Donald Trump was set to deliver his State of the Union address, a speech that many expect will tout the stock market’s highs and focus on the impact the administration has had on the economy.”
* Korean peninsula: “The White House’s original choice for U.S. ambassador to South Korea is no longer expected to be nominated after he privately expressed disagreement in late December with the Trump administration’s North Korea policy, according to people familiar with the matter.”
* Something to keep an eye on: “Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase announced on Tuesday that they would form an independent health care company for their employees in the United States.”
* Wait, you mean Scott Pruitt was briefly right about something? “Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said in a 2016 interview that ‘Donald Trump in the White House would be more abusive to the Constitution than Barack Obama,’ according to an audio recording released Tuesday by an advocacy group, prompting questions as he faced the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee for the first time since taking office.” * I remain fascinated by countries that commit acts of self-sabotage: “The government’s new analysis of the impact of Brexit says the UK would be worse off outside the European Union under every scenario modelled, BuzzFeed News can reveal.” * Elections sometimes have progressive consequences, too: “Gov. Phil Murphy began the process Monday for New Jersey to re-enter the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, six years after former Gov. Chris Christie made the controversial decision to leave the multistate cap-and-trade compact.” Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
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." Recommended
