Today's edition of quick hits:
* Today was not a great day for the White House: "Bill Taylor and George Kent, the first two witnesses in the House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump's dealings in Ukraine, testified for more than five hours Wednesday in a public hearing that saw both men share new -- and sometimes shocking -- pieces of information."
* On a related note: "President Donald Trump on Wednesday dismissed the House's impeachment proceedings as a 'hoax' and said he was 'too busy to watch' -- and then blasted Democrats' choice of questioners at a hearing he said he hadn't been briefed on."
* Israel: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Wednesday that Israel was prepared to hit Iran-backed Islamic Jihad militants in the Gaza Strip 'mercilessly,' while a Gaza Strip resident described conditions there as close to unbearable, saying 'we try to calm the kids but they live in fear.'"
* DHS: "Chad Wolf was sworn in Wednesday as the new acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, becoming the fifth person to hold the top job under President Trump, a period of unusually high leadership turnover at the nation's largest domestic security agency."
* I meant to mention this yesterday: "The Supreme Court has denied Remington Arms Co.'s bid to block a lawsuit filed by families of victims of the Sandy Hook school massacre. The families say Remington should be held liable, as the maker and promoter of the AR-15-style rifle used in the 2012 killings."
* In related news: "A federal judge in Washington State on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from allowing blueprints for making plastic guns on 3-D printers to be posted on the internet, ruling that the move violated federal procedures."
* A highly provocative report about Stephen Miller: "In the lead-up to the 2016 election, White House senior adviser Stephen Miller sought to promote white nationalism, far-right extremist ideas and anti-immigrant rhetoric through the conservative website Breitbart, a report released Tuesday by the Southern Poverty Law Center claims."
* The latest former congressman to go into lobbying: "Sean Duffy, the former Republican congressman who has aggressively defended President Donald Trump, is heading to K Street after resigning from Congress in September.... He left office on Sept. 23, saying that he and his wife were expecting a child in October who 'will need even more love, time and attention due to complications, including a heart condition.'"
See you tomorrow.