Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The policy on deadly boat strikes could benefit from some transparency: “A federal judge dealt a blow on Wednesday to the Trump administration’s efforts to withhold a Justice Department memo that deems lawful the Pentagon’s disputed policy of summarily killing suspected drug smugglers at sea. In a 66-page opinion, Judge Paul A. Engelmayer of Federal District Court in Manhattan rejected two arguments the government made for secrecy.”
* An intensifying public health challenge: “Pennsylvania’s health department reported 943 measles cases as of Wednesday, according to its website, as the state grapples with a growing outbreak of the highly contagious disease.”
* The White House’s latest move sure does appear to have been illegal: “The Government Accountability Office reaffirmed its opinion Tuesday that ‘pocket rescissions’ are illegal, dealing a modest blow to President Donald Trump’s announcement last week of plans to cancel $810 million in spending without the approval of Congress.”
* Some people have a problem with taxpayer-financed propaganda, and some don’t: “A Republican senator blocked a resolution Tuesday that would have denounced President Donald Trump’s recent campaign-style ads funded with taxpayer dollars. Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming objected to Sen. Maggie Hassan’s nonbinding resolution, which said it was the sense of the Senate that the ads ‘should not be paid for by the United States government.’”
* Reverse Brexit? “British Prime Minister Andy Burnham made clear that an attempt to rejoin the European Union could be among the options his government considers as it eyes a fundamental shift in the country’s relationship with the bloc.”
* The climate crisis is, among other things, making groceries more expensive: “From seaweed to sirloin and tomatoes to corn, grocery items around the world are getting more expensive as climate change turns temporary weather-related price spikes into a more persistent driver of inflation, a new study shows. … By 2035, they say projected warming is expected to add up to 3.23 percentage points annually to food inflation, and 1.18 percentage points to headline inflation, a figure many countries aim to keep at around 2%.”
* All is not well at the DOJ: “The Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General ‘declined further action’ on an undisclosed matter involving Attorney General Todd Blanche’s cryptocurrency trades, according to a new federal financial disclosure document reviewed by The Washington Sun.”
* Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a new ad campaign about welfare. Many on the right are apparently outraged because the ads aren’t racist.
* The question isn’t whether the inspector generals’ findings are accurate, the question is why the administration doesn’t care: “Internal watchdogs at the State Department said in a new report that the Trump administration’s push to shutter Voice of America hurt its ability to advance U.S. national interests and support democratic values globally by countering disinformation and propaganda with independent journalism.”
See you tomorrow.
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