Today’s edition of quick hits:
* This really doesn’t help: “The U.S. is ‘totally prepared’ for ‘devastating’ military action against North Korea should that be necessary, President Donald Trump declared Tuesday, further ratcheting up tensions between the two nations.”
* Puerto Rico: “As the devastation from Hurricane Maria became more apparent Sunday, former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton implored President Trump and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to help the people of Puerto Rico. Send the Navy, she tweeted, especially the hospital ship USNS Comfort. Two days later, Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Brock Long announced that the Navy will soon do exactly that.”
* Political pressure matters: “With Hurricane Maria’s devastation coming into full view, a group of congressional lawmakers called on the Trump administration Tuesday to step up its response to recovery efforts in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.”
* Saudi Arabia’s king “issued a decree on Tuesday allowing women to drive, which would end a longstanding ban on female motorists in the ultra-conservative country. The Saudi Ministry of the Interior said the decree means women will be allowed to drive in 10 months. Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that prohibits women drivers.”
* A reverberating scandal: “The chairman and chief executive of Equifax, Richard F. Smith, stepped down on Tuesday in the aftermath of a data breach that exposed the personal information of as many as 143 million people, the credit reporting agency said.” * Trump-Russia: “Criminal charges against two former top advisers to President Donald Trump are virtually certain, Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Tuesday. Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort are almost sure to be indicted as a result of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, the Connecticut senator told Politico.” * Target Corp announced yesterday “it would increase its minimum hourly wage this year by a dollar to $11, vowing to raise this by the end of 2020 to $15 an hour — the so-called ‘living wage’ labor advocates across the United States are campaigning for.” 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
