Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Cabinet news: “President Donald Trump on Friday tapped Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette to succeed Energy Secretary Rick Perry, who is expected to leave the agency’s top post at the end of the year.”
* It’s curious that we’re only hearing about this now: “Boeing Co., the maker of the grounded 737 Max jet, knew for ‘some months’ about messages between two employees in which one of them expressed serious concerns about the troubled craft, officials said.”
* SCOTUS: “The Supreme Court on Friday said it will consider whether the creation of the watchdog Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by Congress in 2010 was unconstitutional, something the Trump administration and even the bureau’s director say they now believe.”
* The expected outcome: “The Senate on Thursday failed to overturn President Trump’s veto of a resolution that would have terminated the national emergency he declared at the southwestern border. The defeat allows Mr. Trump to continue to defy Congress and divert federal funds to the construction of a border wall, his signature campaign promise.”
* A related note from yesterday: “Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), a longtime opponent of “endless wars,” just blocked a resolution condemning President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw American troops from northern Syria.”
* Halil Suleyman “Sul” Ozerden’s uncertain fate: “President Donald Trump’s embattled judicial pick to the powerful Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals faced another setback Thursday, after the Judiciary Committee once again delayed a vote on his nomination.” * This doesn’t sound like an entirely accurate description of Facebook’s origins: “Mark Zuckerberg recalled the tense atmosphere on Harvard’s campus after the U.S. invaded Iraq during a 35-minute Georgetown University address where he linked the war to Facebook’s conception. ‘I remember feeling that if more people had a voice to share their experiences, maybe things would have gone differently,’ Zuckerberg said Thursday in a speech championing freedom of expression. ‘Those early years shaped my belief that giving everyone a voice empowers the powerless and pushes society to be better over time.’” * More guns in schools is a bad idea: “A Florida school resource officer was fired Wednesday after accidentally discharging his gun in a school cafeteria this year. Jonathan Cross, a resource officer at Thomas E. Weightman Middle School in Wesley Chapel, Florida, was ‘terminated for conduct unbecoming (of an officer) and mishandling of a weapon,’ Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said at a news conference Wednesday.” Enjoy the weekend.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past." Recommended
