Today's edition of quick hits:
* Get vaccinated: "The delta variant of the coronavirus is the 'greatest threat' to eliminating Covid-19 in the United States, the nation's leading infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday. The variant, which was first detected in India, is more contagious and causes more severe disease than other circulating variants, he said during a White House Covid-19 response team briefing."
* Kiran Ajuha to lead the Office of Personnel Management: "President Biden's choice to be the federal government's chief personnel officer secured Senate confirmation by a single vote Tuesday after Republicans tried to sink her nomination for her past embrace of the theory of systemic racism known as 'critical race theory.'"
* Mass shooting in Denver: "Three people, including a police officer and a suspect, were killed in a Denver-area shooting Monday, officials said. The circumstances of the shooting, which happened around 1:30 p.m. when an officer was sent on call of a suspicious incident in Arvada's Olde Town, were not immediately released."
* Assault-weapons ban: "A federal appeals court on Monday put a hold on a federal judge's ruling that overturned California's 32-year-old ban on assault weapons."
* Not too surprising: "A federal judge has dismissed a majority of the claims filed by activists and civil liberties groups who accused the Trump administration of violating the civil rights of protesters who were forcefully removed by police using chemical agents from a park near the White House before then-President Donald Trump walked to a nearby church to take a photo."
* USPS: "The attorneys general of 20 states have asked the U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission to reject plans to slow down some first-class deliveries, saying allowing that to happen could harm local governments' ability to fulfill essential functions."
* That sounds like a large number: "Almost 900 Secret Service employees tested positive for COVID-19 during the year since the pandemic hit the United States, according to public records published Tuesday."
* Latest on Team Trump: "New York prosecutors are investigating whether a top Trump Organization executive, Matthew Calamari, received tax-free fringe benefits, as part of their probe into whether former President Donald Trump's company and its employees illegally avoided paying taxes on such perks, according to people familiar with the matter."
* Remember this one? "McCrae Dowless pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to two crimes stemming from the investigation into the absentee ballot fraud scheme he's accused of running in Bladen County and other parts of southeastern North Carolina."
* A good column from Michael Gerson: "The phrase 'systemic racism,' like 'climate change' and 'gun control,' has been sucked into the vortex of the culture war. The emotional reaction to these words seems to preclude reasoned debate on their meaning. But a divisive concept can be clarifying. I know it has been for me: I don't think it's possible to be a conservative without believing that racism is, in part, structural."
* Wait, conservative media and Trump are "still pushing hydroxychloroquine"?
See you tomorrow.