Today’s edition of quick hits.
* At last count, more than 350 people have killed in this nightmarish disaster, and more than 1,300 are missing: “Rescue teams searched Thursday for hundreds of missing people along the Nepal-China border, where a deadly torrent of water and mud several stories high swept through communities a day earlier following a glacier collapse.”
* I miss the days when stories like these would’ve dominated the headlines: “The Abu Dhabi royal sometimes referred to as the ‘spy sheikh’ is a major shareholder backing a new U.S. bank the Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture is preparing to launch, according to people familiar with the matter.”
* The Secret Service didn’t need yet another embarrassing report, but it has one anyway: “Three U.S. Secret Service officials have been placed on administrative leave amid an internal investigation into potential misconduct, an agency spokesperson confirmed to MS NOW. The three officials are non-law-enforcement personnel, including the Secret Service’s chief of communications, Anthony Guglielmi, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to MS NOW.”
* The fact that Donald Trump appears indifferent toward operations like these is a story unto itself: “The U.S. said on Wednesday it had disrupted a Chinese hacking operation responsible for break-ins and attempts on the Justice Department, NASA, the Federal Reserve, the Senate, and other sensitive government agencies.”
* It’s going to take time and effort to put West Point back together again: “After 17 years of teaching science at West Point, Dr. Adam Kalkstein says he was suddenly ordered last year to cut from his curriculum information about the human causes of climate change, according to a new lawsuit filed against the U.S. Military Academy. The change was immoral and potentially illegal, Dr. Kalkstein says he told Brig. Gen. Shane R. Reeves, who at the time was dean of West Point.”
* The administration’s offensive against the ICC is tough to defend: “The president of the International Criminal Court told reporters on Wednesday she is facing ‘unreasonable inconvenience and threat’ after U.S. sanctions froze her assets as part of the Trump administration’s continued effort to target the intergovernmental organization.”
* Still on the lookout for news on McConnell’s condition: “It’s been at least 74 days since anyone has publicly seen Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). That was the day, June 14th, when paramedics found him unconscious at home and performed CPR on him as he was experiencing cardiac arrest. McConnell, 84, spent weeks in the hospital after that, with his office providing little to no news on what happened, his health condition or on whether he plans to return to the Senate this year. … The Senate is currently in recess until Sept. 14th. It’s not clear if McConnell will be returning to work with his colleagues then.”
* As a resident of a blue state, I guess it’ll be a long while before I see a Buc-ee’s: “Gas station and travel center chain Buc-ee’s said it will seek out ‘conservative, business friendly’ states for new locations after receiving pushback over its decision to go after small business owners with allegedly similar logos.”
See you tomorrow.
The post Thursday’s Mini-Report, 8.27.26 appeared first on MS NOW.
