Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Just because this ruling was predictable doesn’t make it any less disappointing: “The Supreme Court has upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors, in an opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts over dissent from the court’s Democratic appointees.”
* In related news: “The Trump administration will shut down the national LGBTQ youth suicide lifeline in 30 days.”
* On Iran, uncertainty reigns: “President Donald Trump said Wednesday he doesn’t want to carry out a U.S. strike on Iran but suggested he stands ready to act if it’s necessary to extinguish Iran’s nuclear program.”
* Aggressive White House lobbying apparently didn’t work on the Fed: “The Federal Reserve left interest rates at their current levels as the central bank continued to assess the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on the U.S. economy. The federal funds rate remains in the 4.25 to 4.5% range. But the central bank’s latest outlook spells out a stagflationary environment resulting from the import duties, with inflation heading higher even as overall growth trends lower.”
* The Senate hands the crypto industry a win: “After weeks of stops and starts, Senate Republicans teamed up with a bloc of Democrats on Tuesday to pass a landmark cryptocurrency bill that would establish the first regulatory framework for issuers of stablecoins. The vote on the GENIUS Act was 68-30, with 18 Democrats joining most Republicans in favor. Just two Republicans — Rand Paul of Kentucky and Josh Hawley of Missouri — voted against it.”
* Remember the TikTok ban? “Donald Trump’s refusal to impose a congressionally authorized ban on TikTok is a clear example of his disregard for democracy — yet the American public, disturbingly, seems to be giving him a pass. The White House announced Tuesday that — for the third time — Trump would unilaterally direct his Justice Department not to enforce a bipartisan law, signed last year, that identified TikTok as a national security threat and required that it be banned in the United States unless it is sold by its Chinese owners. Instead, Trump’s decision allows the app to continue operating in the U.S.” * The demise of a bad idea: “Texas has stopped putting new money toward building a U.S.-Mexico border wall, shifting course after installing only a fraction of the hundreds of miles of potential barrier that Republican Gov. Greg Abbott set out to construct four years ago.” * New allegations against Alex Jones: “After claiming for years that he does not have the money to pay even a small fraction of the $1.3 billion he owes Sandy Hook families who won a defamation case against him, Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is now facing allegations that he engaged in a ‘flurry’ of fraudulent transfers of some $5 million in cash, cars and property to his family members.” See you tomorrow.
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."
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