Extra, Extra

Houthis and the Blow Wish: The biggest threat in the Middle East is that the conflict spreads. A lot of countries and a lot of militaries are working to make sure things are contained. Iran and its proxies, not so much. US Navy and UK Royal Navy shoot down 18 Houthi drones and 3 missiles.

+ Hunter, I Gather? “Hunter Biden unexpectedly made a short appearance at a Capitol Hill hearing Wednesday as House Republicans were starting the process of holding the president’s son in criminal contempt of Congress for not complying with a congressional subpoena to sit for a closed-door deposition last month.” (I do my best to ignore all Hunter Biden news. Some days, it’s impossible.)

+ Room and Boards: “Rudolph Williams says he was home in a Chicago suburb when he realized the doors and windows to his courtyard-style apartment had been boarded up with plywood, locking him inside.” If this isn’t a new season of The Wire, something is seriously wrong.

+ Lloydian Slip: “Lloyd Austin’s struggle with prostate cancer − or, more specifically, his refusal to readily disclose it to the public − has launched a firestorm of criticism and put the White House on the defensive. Men’s health experts, however, say the defense secretary’s hesitancy shouldn’t come as a surprise.”

+ It’s the Right Week to Stop Sniffing Glue: “Whenever he is accused of something — no matter what that something is — he responds by accusing his opponent of that exact thing. The idea is less to argue that Mr. Trump is clean than to suggest that everyone else is dirty.” (Yes, the point of this kind of zone flooding isn’t to make you believe anything, it’s to make you doubt everything.) NYT (Gift Article): One of Trump’s Oldest Tactics in Business and Politics: I’m Rubber. You’re Glue. (It’s far past time for the rubber to hit the road.)