FRIDAY’S MINI-REPORT…. Today’s edition of quick hits:
* In the most successful day since the crisis began, containment mechanisms were able to capture 25,290 barrels of oil gushing from the wrecked well in the Gulf yesterday.
* BP CEO Tony Hayward is “being relieved of day-to-day responsibility for managing the Gulf of Mexico oil spill,” and the reins will be handed to BP Managing Director. Bob Dudley. I guess this means Hayward can get his “life back”?
* Afghanistan: “Three Americans and a British soldier died in fighting Friday in southern Afghanistan, raising to 34 the number of U.S. troops killed in the war so far this month.”
* Faced with opposition from Blue Dogs and the Congressional Black Caucus, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday pulled the DISCLOSE Act, the campaign-finance bill pending in the chamber. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen said obituaries for the proposal are “very, very premature.”
* It took some Senate scrambling, but the Medicare “doc fix” passed today. It was approved without a roll call vote.
* North Korea: “Bowing to reality, the North Korean government has lifted all restrictions on private markets — a last-resort option for a leadership desperate to prevent its people from starving.”
* In Florida, Senate candidate Marco Rubio (R) has an odd sense of “personal responsibility.”
* CIA torture review: “Attorney General said Thursday evening that the Justice Department prosecutor conducting a review of torture of detainees by the CIA, which was launched last August, is ‘close to the end of the time that he needs and will be making some recommendations to me,’ Main Justice reports.”
* C Street members off the hook: “The Office of Congressional Ethics has dropped its investigation into whether several Members of Congress received an improper gift in the form of below-market rent at a Capitol Hill townhouse, five of the lawmakers’ offices have confirmed.”
* I’d feel better about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) if he stopped saying making claims with no basis in reality.
* An important argument at the American Constitution Society event yesterday: “Republican senators and conservative jurists found themselves on the defensive after Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) blasted ‘conservative activism’ on federal courts.”
* Great speech from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on immigration and economic policy.
* There was a problem with the live stream this morning, but the video of the entire Monthly/NAF event is now online.
* The “use income to promote diversity” public policy tactic is not easy.
* Even now, the right is still hung up on ACORN. How sad.
* It’s seems more than a little bizarre for a state official to use Twitter to announce an impending execution. I get that it’s a versatile application, but c’mon.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
