Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The new total is 35 known U.S. strikes on civilian boats in international waters: “The U.S. military said Wednesday it struck five alleged drug-smuggling boats over two days, killing a total of eight people while others jumped overboard and may have survived.”
* Brian Cole Jr. to remain behind bars: “A federal judge ruled Friday that the suspect accused of planting pipe bombs at the Democratic and Republican national committee headquarters the night before the U.S. Capitol riot will remain in custody pending his trial.”
* The presidential statement on this downplayed the fact that the courts didn’t leave him a choice: “President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he is pulling National Guard troops out of Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, for now. District judges and appeals courts have issued various rulings about the legality of the deployments. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to block a lower court’s decision barring Trump’s use of the National Guard in Chicago.”
* The whole “TACO” (“Trump always chickens out”) mockery was rooted in the president’s inconsistencies in trade policy: “The U.S. has stepped back from imposing trade-killing duties on Italian pasta makers, meaning that Italian-made pasta will most likely continue to be available in U.S. stores.”
* In related news: “President Trump signed a proclamation Wednesday to delay increases in U.S. tariffs for imported upholstered furniture, kitchen cabinets and vanities for one year.”
* Maybe Trump shouldn’t have been so quick to believe Putin: “The C.I.A. has determined that Ukraine did not target President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia or one of his residences in an attack this week, according to U.S. officials, rebutting an assertion Mr. Putin made in a phone call to President Trump on Monday.”









