THURSDAY’S MINI-REPORT…. Today’s edition of quick hits:
* The post-review security improvements: “President Obama on Thursday ordered a series of steps to improve the government’s ability to collect, share, analyze and act on intelligence of terrorist threats, saying the findings of a government review of the attempted airline bombing on Christmas Day revealed significant shortcomings in national security.”
* Here’s the summary of the security review, and here’s the president’s directive on corrective actions.
* The White House announced today that President Obama will re-nominate Dawn Johnsen for the OLC.
* Iraq: “Three bombs exploded in a residential area near Ramadi in Iraq’s western Anbar province on Thursday, killing seven people including relatives of an Iraqi Army anti-terrorist special forces commander, police said.”
* Marriage equality comes up short in the New Jersey state Senate.
* Remarkably, U.S. officials realized that Abdulmutallab was a potential threat while the plane was in the air, and planned to question him when he arrived in Detroit on Christmas.
* President Obama has ordered “a ‘surge’ of federal air marshals to be in place by Feb.1 in what officials said was a “race against time,” with other suicide bombers believed to be in the terrorist pipeline, federal officials told ABC News.”
* Yet another tragic shooting: “A disgruntled employee armed with an assault rifle and a handgun walked into a St. Louis manufacturing plant and opened fire Thursday, killing three people and wounding at least five others before apparently taking his own life, police and media reports said.”
* This certainly doesn’t look good: “Controversial deals that sent billions of bailout dollars to Goldman Sachs and other banks were kept quiet under pressure from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, then led by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.”
* The number of U.S. workers filing new unemployment claims rose a little last week, but beat expectations again.
* On a related note, December retail sales showed some modest gains.
* Why do Senate Republicans hate the Transportation Security Administration?
* That this headline is necessary saddens me: “Experts: Cold snap doesn’t disprove global warming.”
* EPA: “The Environmental Protection Agency proposed a stricter new standard for smog-causing pollutants on Thursday that, if adopted, will impose large costs on industry and local governments but will also bring substantial health benefits to millions of Americans.”
* Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon (D) announced her resignation. Good move.
* More math and science teachers would be a good thing.
* And in case you haven’t heard, Glenn Beck has a pretty serious problem when it comes to racial issues.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
