FRIDAY’S MINI-REPORT…. Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Haiti: “Haitians are fleeing their quake-ravaged capital by the hundreds of thousands, aid officials said Friday, as their government promised to help nearly a half-million more move from squalid camps on curbsides and vacant lots into safer, cleaner tent cities.”
* New tensions in Baghdad: “The two biggest secular coalitions were hit hardest by this month’s decision to bar about 500 candidates from parliamentary elections in March, a top election official said Thursday, as efforts to resolve what has become a political crisis intensified…. In an early effort to resolve the crisis, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. suggested that the list of the disqualified be set aside until after the elections, so that only those on the list who won would have to be examined for Baathist ties, according to Iraqi officials.”
* President Obama pushes a jobs bill, among other things, in Ohio.
* Are Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke’s prospects for a second term in real trouble? Actually, yes.
* China really doesn’t take criticism well.
* Gitmo: “A presidentially created task force has recommended about three dozen Guantanamo Bay detainees face trial or military commissions, two government officials said Friday. Such prosecutions would almost certainly take place in the United States. The two officials said that a task force has recommended 35 Guantanamo Bay detainees for prosecution. Attorney General Eric Holder has already decided that five of those will be tried in New York federal court for their alleged roles in the 2001 terror attacks. Another six have been chosen to face military commissions.”
* As Obama goes after banks with a populist pitch, Republicans bring “class warfare” back from the rhetorical trash heap.
* It was only a matter of time before more conservatives starting criticizing Haiti for not having been colonized long enough.
* Tuition-free, online higher ed?
* Dear Jewish air-travelers: using a tefillin is apparently going to cause some trouble.
* I absolutely loved Tom Toles’s latest gem. Clip it, save it, send it to your representative.
* Pass the damn bill: “59 out of 59 Democratic incumbent Senators voted for the Obama health care plan. And 218 Democratic House incumbents voted for the Obama health care plan. This plan does not poll well today. And if the narrative about the plan in the media becomes a narrative of failure, all about why Obamacare went down, it will poll even worse…. The votes cannot be untaken. But it is still possible to (a) accomplish something for the American people, (b) at least have a chance at turning the narrative around, and (c) avoid demoralizing those people who do like the health care plan.”
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
