There’s so much news today besides the impending news out of the United Kingdom that I just wanted to hit big points briefly because there’s no way to delve into all of it at once.

In this week’s podcast, Kate Riga and I talked about the on-going talent purge at CNN. We’ve discussed this before. CNN is under new Republican management and the top shareholder has announced his intention to make the network less “liberal” and more “centrist.” There are both ideological and business drivers, which I discussed last week. But I want to dig into the mechanics, which seem to be getting short shrift in the media discussion. Two rungs down the ladder from the top corporate boss is CNN boss Chris Licht. The game plan may come from on high (i.e., Trump donor billionaire John Malone) but Licht is the implementer. So far Brian Stelter and John Harwood have been axed and the rumor mill is now fixated on Brianna Keilar, a CNN host deemed “too liberal” or too critical of Trump for the new “centrist” CNN.

The words contained in the reports themselves are vague. But they suggest that Queen Elizabeth II, 96, may be on her death bed. Her health has been in decline since the death of her husband a year ago. Reports this morning say her doctors are “concerned for Her Majesty’s health” and recommend she “remain under medical supervision.” Meanwhile, her four children and her elder grandson are rushing to be at her side at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Again, the official comments are vague. The atmospherics and actions seem clear.

Don’t miss this subscriber-only analysis of the current military situation in Ukraine from TPM’s Josh Kovensky. Josh lived and worked in Ukraine for about three years. So he knows the geography and political geography that eludes most of us who only know most of this as lines on maps. I really recommend it.

As one of, if not the most vulnerable, senator seeking reelection this midterm cycle, Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-WI) been staking out his policy positions on a number of issues rather publicly in recent weeks — after mid-August polling from Marquette Law School found that the incumbent was trailing behind his Democratic rival. Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes has a 7-percentage point lead over Johnson with 51 percent of the vote compared to his 44 percent.

And his latest remarks — clarifying where he stands on a same-sex marriage bill that could soon come before members of the upper chamber — include a few too many references to “religious liberty” to not be read as a scrambling effort to satisfy the religious right after initially appearing to be open to the bill.