Today's edition of quick hits:
* Impressive numbers from an engaged democracy: "After months of sometimes-violent unrest in Hong Kong, an election with record turnout handed a big victory to pro-democracy local district council candidates, posing a new conundrum for Beijing and adding pressure on the city's leader."
* I guess the new policy is the same as the old policy: "United States troops have resumed large-scale counterterrorism missions against the Islamic State in northern Syria, military officials say, nearly two months after President Trump's abrupt order to withdraw American troops opened the way for a bloody Turkish cross-border offensive."
* Parnas and Fruman, redux: "Two associates of Rudy Giuliani tried to recruit a top Ukrainian energy official in March in a proposed takeover of the state oil-and-gas company, describing the company's chief executive and the then-U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch as part of "this Soros cartel" working against President Trump."
* RBG: "Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is back home and resting after being hospitalized Friday. Ginsburg, 86, has been released after being admitted with chills and a fever, a spokesperson for the Supreme Court said Sunday."
* More evidence of a climate crisis for the White House to ignore: "The concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere has reached a record high, according to a report released Monday by the World Meteorological Organization."
* I'm guessing he didn't consider resigning as an alternative to carrying out the order: "Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Monday that President Donald Trump had directed him to allow a Navy SEAL acquitted of war crimes to retire without losing his elite status."
* Apparently, Pence was there to help smooth things over with the Kurds: "Vice President Mike Pence made an unannounced trip to Iraq Saturday morning amid an impeachment inquiry in which his name has come up and after months of criticism that his administration has betrayed former Kurdish allies of the U.S. in the region."
See you tomorrow.