Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The Ebola outbreak: “Global health officials warned on Tuesday that the number of people infected in an Ebola outbreak in central Africa could be much higher than reported and that the outbreak could last for months. The suspected death toll stood Tuesday at more than 130 people.”
* The latest from San Diego: “The teenagers who killed three people at a San Diego mosque met online and shared a ‘broad hatred’ toward different religions and races, authorities said Tuesday. Mark Remily of the FBI said during a news conference that authorities have uncovered writings by the suspects. Authorities declined to specify what ideologies or views were expressed by the shooters. Authorities have also recovered 30 firearms and a crossbow from two residences searched in connection to the investigation.”
* No way to treat allies and neighbors: “The Pentagon’s policy chief announced Monday that the United States will suspend its involvement in a joint body that coordinates military consultation with Canada, pointing to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s address to the World Economic Forum earlier this year.”
* The first suit was a success, and I wouldn’t bet against the second: “The New York Times on Monday accused the Defense Department of violating the First Amendment by requiring journalists to have an official escort at all times when visiting the Pentagon. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, is the second time the newspaper has sued over the Trump administration’s restrictions on reporters who cover the military complex.”
* I tend to think the breadth of anti-AI sentiment is underappreciated: “The only thing growing faster than the artificial-intelligence industry may be Americans’ negative feelings about it.”
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* It often seems there are few people Trump cares about more than white South Africans: “President Trump moved ahead on Monday with plans to allow 10,000 more white South Africans into the United States as refugees, even as the program remains closed off to people from every other country in the world, according to documents obtained by The New York Times.”
* She’s right: “Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said Monday that the Supreme Court risks being seen as political in the wake of a major voting rights decision.”
* Remember when this guy led the IRS for two months before getting ousted?: “The Senate voted Monday to confirm a new ambassador to Iceland whose joke about making the country a U.S. state infuriated Icelanders. Billy Long, a former Republican congressman from Missouri, apologized during his confirmation hearing in February for joking about making Iceland the ‘52nd state.’”
* As the weekend wrapped up, Trump used his social media platform to promote an artificial intelligence-generated image of him walking alongside a handcuffed space alien. No one seems to know why, although it was yet another reminder of just how weird our current political conditions have become.
See you tomorrow.
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."
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