MONDAY’S MINI-REPORT…. Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Transferring control of the prison at Bagram Air Field to Afghan control? A step forward.
* Iran signals interest in a nuclear fuel swap. Hmm.
* Targeting banks: “The budget President Obama submits next month is likely to include fees on banks and other financial institutions as the White House seeks to demonstrate its eagerness to trim the federal deficit, an administration official said.”
* Harry Reid is ready to move on from the weekend’s race-related unpleasantness.
* The legal proceedings testing California’s ban on same-sex marriage get off to a tense start.
* Big week for health care reform.
* Slower U.S. troop deployment to Afghanistan frustrates White House.
* Did Abdulmutallab have a one-way ticket to Detroit on Christmas? Actually, no, but everyone from CNN to Rush Limbaugh to Jon Stewart said he did.
* That “quote” from Bill Clinton to Ted Kennedy about Obama? There’s reason for skepticism.
* Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, won all kinds of concessions on the House version of the climate bill. Now he’s vowing to reject the legislation, if it passes the Senate, even if the concessions remain.
* Good question from Fareed Zakaria: “[K]eep in mind that the crucial intelligence we received [about Abdulmutallab] was from the boy’s father. If that father had believed that the United States was a rogue superpower that would torture and abuse his child without any sense of decency, would he have turned him in?”
* Since the networks won’t do it, Media Matters will: “Every Monday morning, the Media Matters Action Network will publish a memo correcting the conservative misinformation that was left unchallenged the day before. Over time, we hope that our work will help contribute to a culture of accountability that is currently lacking on Sunday morning.”
* Strong marks on lobbying restrictions, ethics rules, and disclosures: “A coalition of watchdog and reform groups gave President Barack Obama’s administration high marks for its efforts to increase transparency in its first year.”
* Odd trend in higher ed: “In one of those unintuitive stories that come out of the recession, NPR points out that cheaper tuition at state universities may actually be detrimental to in-state students.”
* Krugman weighs in on the controversy surrounding Jon Gruber’s HHS contract.
* Is the White House backing away from net neutrality? Not so much.
* Interesting story behind how Jim Wilkinson — a self-described “pro-life, pro-gun, Texas Republican” who worked for Bush — ended up backing Obama.
* That Jay Leno experiment always seemed like a bad idea to me.
* And finally, Blagojevich isn’t quite done embarrassing himself. He probably never will be.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
