Lotta chores to do today before flying back to California, so I’ll probably stop a bit early and let you amuse yourselves for Happy Hour.

Here are some intoxicating midday news treats:

* House GOP leaders trying to pull together votes for last-second dual bills, one that would appropriate a pittance for refugee crisis resources, another that would shut down DACA. First a problem, second a symbolic nuisance.

* Ebola deaths top 700.

* Gaza “72-hour humanitarian truce” collapses almost immediately.

* Special session of Florida legislature to redraw congressional districts.

* Congress already planning October recess as it scurries to begin August recess.

And in non-political news:

* Batch of iPhone 6 rumors includes prediction new phone to debut on September 12.

As we break for lunch, here’s another bitter soldier song from World War I, “Hanging on the Old Barbed Wire.”

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Ed Kilgore

Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.