Required reading from around the web of the best, most interesting, or most though provoking things we’ve read:
Conklin: Judge Blocks New York From Turning Over Trump Tax Returns To Congress
“The order will block any House Ways and Means Committee requests for the tax returns via the New York law until the jurisdictional dispute is resolved.”
Camosy: The Double Murder That Ended Ally Kostial’s Life Is An Indictment Of Abortion Culture
“Many of us were disturbed by the murder of University of Mississippi undergraduate Ally Kostial last week. By all accounts, she was such a deeply kind and beautiful person. What could have possibly been the motivation to kill someone who radiated such powerful goodness? This week, based on exclusive reporting from The Daily Mail, we learned the answer: Ally was pregnant with the child of the accused killer, a fellow undergraduate at Mississippi. He reportedly pressured her to have an abortion. She refused. So it appears he killed her and their prenatal child, in a reprehensible double murder. […]
Despite the high-profile nature of such cases, our culture is still not fully aware of the danger in which pregnant women find themselves—particularly in a patriarchal throwaway culture in which abortion is an expected means of permitting people to live their lives without the “burden” (or, as President Obama once put it, “punishment”) of a child.”
Gardner & Zengerle: Senate panel backs Nord Stream 2 pipeline sanctions bill
“A U.S. Senate committee passed a bill on Wednesday to slap sanctions on companies and individuals involved in building the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany that the Trump administration says would strengthen Moscow’s economic grip on Europe. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed the “Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Act,” by a vote of 20 to 2. The bill, which reflects some lawmakers’ concerns over Russian influence in Europe, would still need to pass the full Senate and House of Representatives and be signed by President Donald Trump into law. A companion bill passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee last month. “Russia has a history of using energy as a weapon,” said Republican Senator Ted Cruz, one of the measure’s sponsors. […] Republican Senator Rand Paul and Democratic Senator Tom Udall were the panel members who voted against the bill. Paul complained . . .”