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Thursday's Mini-Report, 4.16.15

Today's edition of quick hits.
Today's edition of quick hits:
 
* A deal on trade policy: "Top lawmakers struck a bipartisan agreement Thursday to allow President Barack Obama to negotiate trade deals subject to a yes-or-no vote from Congress without the possibility of changes. The 'fast track' legislation comes as Obama seeks a sweeping trade deal with 11 Pacific nations."
 
* Ohio: "An Ohio man who trained with a terrorist group in Syria was charged Thursday with returning to the United States with the goal of mounting an attack at home, a pattern that counterterrorism officials have long feared."
 
* Maybe Congress should show some interest in the conflict: "The cost of U.S. military operations against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has surpassed the $2 billion mark."
 
* Important case: "A panel of federal judges on Thursday appeared inclined to dismiss the first legal challenge to President Obama's most far-reaching regulation to slow climate change."
 
* Comments like these on the debt ceiling from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) really are important: "[O]bviously we're not going to default on the nation's obligations." If that's "obvious," then there's no point in another GOP hostage crisis.
 
* Richard Engel digs deeper into the details surrounding his 2012 kidnapping in Syria.
 
* Will the new Iran bill in Congress derail the international diplomacy on Iran's nuclear program? Probably not. In fact, if a deal comes together, there's reason to believe it will withstand congressional pushback.
 
* Fascinating piece from Michael Hiltzik: "Reporting on quacks and pseudoscience: The problem for journalists."
 
* This again? "Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) has authored a resolution that seeks to define President Obama's executive actions on immigration as impeachable offenses.  The Yoho resolution defines impeachable 'high crimes and misdemeanors' in a way that is clearly aimed at Obama's actions to unilaterally delay deportations for certain illegal immigrants."
 
* And though I know it won't happen, I'll confess to feeling a little antsy when right-wing media figures start talking openly about a return to Jim-Crow-era literacy tests.
 
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.