Today’s edition of quick hits.

* It’s worth emphasizing that this incident was the second in recent years in which Tennessee tried to execute someone and botched it: “Christa Pike remained alive Thursday, a day after she survived a failed attempt to execute her for the 1995 murder of a woman, one of her lawyers said. Lawyer Randy Pivey said Pike is being treated at a hospital, but that he and the rest of her legal team didn’t know her condition.”

* Signaling yet another escalation: “The Pentagon is sending a third aircraft-carrier strike group and additional Marine Corps ships to the Middle East, according to U.S. officials, adding 9,000 to 10,000 more troops to the region as President Trump considers renewing strikes on Iran after the midterm elections.”

* The war on the free press is ongoing: “The White House again blocked CNN from fulfilling its scheduled TV pool duties, barring the network from traveling with President Donald Trump as he visits Texas and Oklahoma on Thursday.”

* The demise of a case that never should’ve been brought: “The Justice Department’s indictment against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn is dismissed permanently, a judge in the nation’s capital ruled Thursday in a defeat for the Trump administration.”

* A case worth watching: “Renee Good’s family is suing the Trump administration and several federal officials over her fatal shooting by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer during an operation in Minneapolis in January, her family announced on Thursday.”

* Every time the government discards its interest in human rights, it’s a step backward: “The US State Department has waived human rights conditions for ​more than $300 million of military aid to Egypt in light of Cairo’s ‘helpful role’ since the launch of the US ‌war with Iran, according to a letter to US lawmakers obtained by Reuters.”

* Among the reasons it’s a bad idea to alienate the world is that people decide to travel elsewhere: “Overseas visitors to the US are on track to drop by almost two million year-on-year, with even the FIFA Men’s World Cup failing to arrest the decline in tourism. The slide is hurting the US economy, and as Axios put it, is partly ‘self-inflicted:’ There has been a significant drop in visitors from US allies like Canada and several European countries, which have been a target of Washington’s trade war and taunts.”

* Sometimes, Trump’s racism is so weird, I literally don’t understand it: “President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the attendees of a National Hispanic Heritage Month celebration at the White House would be among the first people to walk the floor of the ballroom he is building at the White House. But his invitation came with a warning. ‘Don’t fall over the edge because it’s a long way down,’ Trump said. ‘And only a Hispanic could survive that fall.’”

I’ll be away from my desk tomorrow, but I’ll return to my usual publishing schedule on Monday morning, Oct. 5. See you then.

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