• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about how the unserious people will kill us all

Tomasky• Michael Tomasky of The Daily Beast calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about our exploding world

• Israeli tank shells hit a fuel tank of the Gaza Strip’s only power plant on Tuesday, forcing the plant to shut down, a spokesman for Gaza’s electricity distribution company said. A huge cloud of black smoke rose over the coastal city.

• With a fresh compromise in hand to address long wait times and other deficiencies at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) , the chairmen of the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs committees are now working quickly to send the bill to President Obama before Congress leaves town Friday for its five-week summer break.

• White House officials are making plans to act before the midterm elections to grant work permits to millions of immigrants in this country illegally. The move could scramble election-year politics and lead some conservative GOP-ers to push for impeachment proceedings against President Obama.

• A judge ruled against Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling on Monday in his attempt to block the $2 billion sale of the Los Angeles Clippers to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Sterling’s lawyer says he hopes a higher court will allow him to appeal the decision.