Today's edition of quick hits:
* From bad to worse for Giuliani: "President Trump's personal attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani, negotiated this year to represent Ukraine's top prosecutor for at least $200,000 during the same months that Giuliani was working with the prosecutor to dig up dirt on former vice president Joe Biden, according to people familiar with the discussions."
* The right expected way too much from the Horowitz report: "The Justice Department's inspector general found no evidence that the F.B.I. attempted to place undercover agents or informants inside Donald J. Trump's campaign in 2016 as agents investigated whether his associates conspired with Russia's election interference operation, people familiar with a draft of the inspector general's report said."
* Trump's latest legal setback: "A federal judge in Oregon blocked President Donald Trump's bid to deny immigrants visas unless they buy health insurance within 30 days of entering the country or otherwise show they can cover their medical costs."
* DHS: "The internal watchdog for the Department of Homeland Security found that the Trump administration anticipated it would separate 26,000 children if the "zero tolerance" policy of 2018 had been allowed to continue, and that the agency knew it lacked the technology to track and reunite children with their parents."
* Dems seem to be raising a legitimate point: "As the Justice Department's internal watchdog prepares to release a long-awaited report examining the FBI's conduct in 2016 and 2017 in the Russia investigation, Democrats are expressing frustration over what they view as his failure to examine the conduct of Donald Trump's attorneys general over the past two years."
* Climate crisis: "With world leaders gathering in Madrid next week for their annual bargaining session over how to avert a climate catastrophe, the latest assessment issued by the United Nations said Tuesday that greenhouse gas emissions are still rising dangerously."
* Remember last week, when Trump's EPA started rolling back chemical-plant safeguards? "An explosion at a chemical plant in southeastern Texas early on Wednesday injured at least eight people, shattered the windows of nearby homes and forced residents near the site to flee as orange flames shot into the sky."
* Perhaps we should encourage more immigration while creating a support infrastructure for families, including child care: "A final tally of babies born in the U.S. last year confirms that the birth rate fell again in 2018, reaching the lowest level in more than three decades."
See you (briefly) in the morning.