Tuesday's Mini-Report, 4.25.17

Today's edition of quick hits:* When does all the winning start? "A federal judge in California on Tuesday temporarily blocked the Trump administration's efforts to withhold funding from cities that limit their cooperation with federal immigration enforcement"* Try not to be surprised: "The campaign of French presidential front-runner Emmanuel Macron appears to have been targeted by hackers who may be linked to Russia."* The key, apparently, was to simply ignore Trump's demands: "The down-payment on construction of a border wall that President Donald Trump had sought has been dropped as part of the latest GOP proposal for a spending bill to prevent a government shutdown at the end of this week."* Arkansas "executed two death row inmates, both convicted murderers, Monday night, making it the first state to carry out two death sentences on one day since 2000."* Sessions is ignoring Trump's pronouncements on this: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions vowed on Monday that the Trump administration would vigorously prosecute white-collar crime amid concerns that such cases would fall by the wayside in favor of higher-profile priorities like violent crime and illegal immigration."* The president sure does like retired generals: "The White House announced Tuesday that Randolph D. 'Tex' Alles, a senior customs official and retired Marine Corps general, would take over the U.S. Secret Service, becoming the agency's 25th director."* I seem to recall Bush doing the same thing: "The Trump administration announced it will impose a 20 percent tariff on imported softwood lumber from Canada."* When it comes to Wikileaks, perhaps no official in the United States has changed direction more dramatically than CIA Director Mike Pompeo.* Cabinet: "Former Georgia governor Sonny Perdue was confirmed Monday as secretary of the Agriculture Department, bringing into President Trump's Cabinet an experienced politician with deep support among agricultural interests."* This must have been deeply embarrassing: "The unmistakable sound of a cellphone ringing interrupted Tuesday morning's [U.S. Supreme Court] argument in Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of California, followed by a scramble on the part of Justice Stephen G. Breyer. The embarrassed-looking justice moved quickly to stop the sound, while some of his colleagues smiled and looked at the ceiling."Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.