Today’s edition of quick hits.
* This program is scheduled to launch in two weeks — and will last a year: “The State Department is set to launch a new pilot program later this month that will require foreign visitors planning travel to the U.S. from certain countries to post bonds of up to $15,000, according to a temporary final rule published in the Federal Register Tuesday.”
* In the Middle East: “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to push to ‘occupy all of the Gaza Strip’ as ceasefire talks with Hamas founder and the hunger crisis in the besieged Palestinian enclave spirals. A bid by Netanyahu to occupy all of Gaza would follow similar calls from members of his far-right government upon whom his fragile coalition relies, and could mark a significant shift in policy since Israel withdrew from the territory in 2005.”
* The Kremlin’s ongoing rhetorical escalation: “Former Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev has warned that the country’s rivals now faced a ‘new reality’ as the Kremlin formally announced it was no longer bound by a treaty limiting the use of short- and medium-range nuclear missiles.”
* A striking number of public schools are permanently closing in Arizona as a direct result of the Republican-imposed private school voucher scheme in the state.
* The Trump administration does abandon some of its provocative ideas from time to time: “In a reversal, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will not deny grants to states and cities that boycott Israeli companies, the Trump administration said on Monday.”
* Strange days at NASA: “Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy will announce expedited plans this week to build a nuclear reactor on the moon, the first major action by the former Fox News host as the interim NASA administrator. NASA has discussed building a reactor on the lunar surface, but this would set a more definitive timeline — according to documents obtained by Politico — and come just as the agency faces a massive budget cut.”
* I’m hard pressed to understand the White House deliberately gutting U.S. diplomatic efforts directed at India: “After more than two decades of bipartisan effort to transform the relationship between New Delhi and Washington, including during his own first term, U.S. President Donald Trump is now in the process of dismantling this painstakingly built relationship.”
* The familiarity of stories like these does not make them more tolerable: “Michael Abramowitz, the director of Voice of America, has been fired after refusing to accept what he called an ‘illegal’ reassignment to run a broadcasting station in North Carolina, according to a new court filing on Monday.”
* Shouldn't this have ended much sooner? "The weekly 'five things' memos that government employees have been emailing into what many say seems like oblivion is coming to an end, the Office of Personnel Management announced on Tuesday."
* If only Trump realized that the White House belongs to us, not to him: “It’s not just the Rose Garden and the Lincoln bathroom: Trump is overseeing some upgrades to the Oval Office, too, including adding gold to the ceiling, a White House official said.”
See you tomorrow.