Today’s edition of quick hits:
* A great bill that will die in the Republican-led Senate: “The House on Friday passed a sweeping LGBTQ nondiscrimination bill that would modify existing civil rights legislation to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, public accommodations, jury service, education, federal programs and credit.”
* The latest missed deadline: “The Treasury Department said Friday that it would not comply with congressional subpoenas to provide six years of President Donald Trump’s tax returns.”
* DACA: “The federal appeals court ruled Friday the Trump administration acted in an ‘arbitrary and capricious’ manner when it sought to end an Obama-era program that shields young immigrants from deportation.”
* A step in the right direction: “The U.S. will lift the steel and aluminum tariffs it imposed on Canada last year, President Donald Trump announced Friday, while Canada will, in turn, withdraw the retaliatory tariffs it had levied on billions of dollars of American imports.”
* Richard Strauss: “An Ohio State team doctor sexually abused at least 177 male students from 1979 to 1996, and school officials failed to take appropriate action despite being aware of numerous reports of the physician’s misconduct over the 17-year period, according to an investigative report released Friday.”
* Brexit: “Bipartisan talks on extricating Britain from the European Union collapsed on Friday, when the opposition Labour Party pulled out, ending the latest attempt to salvage the beleaguered Brexit process and leaving it in a familiar state of deadlock.”
* A Republican state senator argued this week, in reference to late-term abortions, “Of course it should be hard! And the procedure should be painful! And you should allow God to take over!! And you should deliver that baby!”
* This might answer something I’ve been wondering about: “Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s appearance before a House panel has been stalled partly due to discussions on whether the White House’s assertion of executive privilege would limit his testimony, according to people familiar with the matter.” * Disappointing Rudy Giuliani: “Ukraine’s prosecutor general said in an interview that he had no evidence of wrongdoing by U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden or his son, despite a swirl of allegations by President Donald Trump’s lawyer.” * It’s amazing how many people close to Trump think rules and laws don’t apply to them: “Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson broke the law when he failed to report an order for a $31,561 dining room table set for his office as well as the installation of an $8,000 dishwasher in the office kitchen, the Government Accountability Office found in a report published Thursday.” Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
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
