War: An Opportunity for Spending?
Plus: How matzo gets made, TikTok employees reporting to Beijing-based ByteDance, espionage concerns in Germany, and more...
More money: Republicans confirmed yesterday that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R–La.) plans to attempt to pass four separate bills to provide funding to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan and to address other national security priorities, which include banning TikTok in the U.S. (or forcing divestiture) and selling off seized Russian oligarch assets.
"It's far from certain that Johnson would have the votes to bring the bills to the floor, given the procedural hurdles of Republicans' narrow majority that have vexed the speaker for months," reports Politico. "Johnson would need near-unanimous support from his own conference to bring the whole package of bills up for passage, a procedure known as a rules vote, plus prior approval from a Rules Committee stacked with conservatives who may resist based on Ukraine aid."
The timing for the Israel funding seems directly linked to Iran's attack this past weekend, which allies—including U.S. forces—helped swat away, minimizing the damage. And Ukrainian President Volydmyr Zelenskyy says his country will lose the war against the Russians unless Americans come to their aid—and soon. (Meanwhile, Zelenskyy has been told by Biden administration officials that he must stop attacking Russian oil refineries, as this will invite worse retaliation, not to mention higher prices across the globe.)
But Johnson seems to have forgotten that just weeks ago, securing the southern border was a necessary prerequisite for shoring up support for foreign aid; House Republicans have not changed their tunes, so it's not clear why this time would be different.
"I think the Senate should have to take a vote on our border security legislation before we are just giving a blank check," said Rep. Matt Gaetz (R–Fla.).
On one hand, it's a good thing the right-wing flank of the House is interested in pumping the brakes on spending; on the other, it's a shame it's not coming from a place of actual principle. What the House, under Johnson, can actually pass remains to be seen.
Supreme Court permits ban on transitioning treatments for kids: On Monday, the Supreme Court sided with Idaho state officials who had asked the justices to lift an injunction as appeals percolate through the courts.
"The law, which Republican Gov. Brad Little signed in April 2023, sought to ban medical professionals from providing gender affirming care, including transition surgeries, puberty blockers or hormone therapy for those under 18," reports Politico. "Doctors could face up to 10 years in prison for providing such services under the law."
The main issue the justices focused on when issuing this decision was not medical care for transitioning minors, but rather universal injunctions, or "when a single judge issues a sweeping decision that applies beyond those directly involved in the dispute," per The New York Times.
Justice Neil Gorsuch said that universal injunction "meant Idaho could not enforce its prohibition against surgeries to remove or alter children's genitals, even though no party before the court had sought access to those surgeries or demonstrated that Idaho's prohibition of them offended federal law." In the past few years, Gorsuch noted, lower courts had overstepped by attempting "to govern an entire state or even the whole nation from their courtrooms."
Scenes from New York: Papaya King, a city institution that first opened its doors in 1932, closed its doors last year due to the landlord selling the building. Now, news has surfaced that the storefront will be replaced by luxury apartment buildings. "We're good for condos around here. We need more Papaya Kings. Any locally owned or independently operated business would be beneficial, but you can see that's not the case here," one longtime Upper East Sider told The New York Post. But anyone who pays market-rate New York rent knows that's not really the case; we're not good on condos, and developers clearly think there's a market for the units they're building or else they wouldn't do it. Still, I mourn the death of cheap, good food. Good thing there are a few dupes.
QUICK HITS
- A deep dive into how matzo gets made.
- Espionage concerns, which may be political theater or may be something more substantial, are surfacing in relation to lawmakers affiliated with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
- Anti-Israel/pro-Gaza protesters shut down the Golden Gate Bridge for nearly five hours yesterday. Police eventually started making arrests, but it's unclear why they didn't do so sooner given that…this form of protest is illegal. That wasn't all, though. The Brooklyn Bridge was shut down by protesters, too. And protesters in Chicago joined the fun with an airport road blockage outside of Terminal 1 at O'Hare. Ditto in Seattle, where travelers were blocked from accessing the terminal for three hours.
- Tesla is cutting more than 10 percent of its global workforce. More from The Wall Street Journal.
- "A TikTok data scientist says he was assigned a Seattle-based manager on paper, while actually reporting to a Beijing-based ByteDance executive, who ordered him to regularly email U.S. data in spreadsheets to ByteDance workers in China during 2022," reports Fortune's Alexandra Sternlicht.
- Last week, the U.K.'s National Health Service changed its guidance on gender identity services due to the release of a four-year review of the literature by Hilary Cass, a renowned pediatrician, on whether puberty blockers had negative long-term effects:
1/ The Cass Review explains, in detail, why we need to trust systematic reviews over both doctors' anecdotal evidence and low-quality standards published by professional associations. The CBC responds by publishing an article that cites professional associations and is dominated…
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) April 15, 2024
- What do Ukrainians think of the U.S.'s defense of Israel against Iranian missiles and drones?
- Finance guru Ramit Sethi defends occupational licensing. Bad take!
You see that haircut of yours? It looks nice. The government ensures that your hair stylist is licensed and uses proper hygiene practices https://t.co/ww0BxCRLIT pic.twitter.com/BSSMq15j4F
— Ramit Sethi (@ramit) April 15, 2024
