MONDAY’S MINI-REPORT…. Today’s edition of quick hits:
* This seemed to go over well in India: “President Obama announced here on Monday that the United States would back India’s bid for a permanent seat on an expanded United Nations Security Council, a major policy shift that underscores their strengthening partnership. Mr. Obama made the announcement — a priority for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh — during a late afternoon speech to Parliament.”
* In response to the latest plot: “The U.S. tightened security on cargo shipments flown from abroad Monday, banning ‘high-risk’ cargo from flying on passenger planes after last month’s discovery of a plot that originated in Yemen to send bombs in shipped packages. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also extended last week’s ban on all air cargo from Yemen to include Somalia as well.”
* The race between James Clyburn and Steny Hoyer for Minority Whip is actually more interesting than I’d expected, with a surprising number of liberals lining up behind the current Majority Leader.
* Legal nonsense in Oklahoma is put on hold: “A federal judge in Oklahoma has issued a temporary restraining order barring the state from adopting a constitutional amendment voters passed last week that forbids state courts from enforcing Islamic law, also known as sharia, The Associated Press reports.”
* Speaking of legal news, the U.S. Supreme Court turned down the first preliminary challenge to the Affordable Care Act today. The AP noted, “The decision Monday to reject an appeal from a former Republican state lawmaker in California was no surprise because a federal appeals court has yet to consider the case. The high court almost never reviews cases before the issues have been aired in lower courts.”
* A wild story out of Maryland, where on Election Day, more than 50,000 voters were called two hours before the polls closed, suggesting Democrats who hadn’t voted shouldn’t bother because Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) had already won re-election. The calls apparently came from a controversial Democratic operative who hoped to help the Republican in the race.
* Republican Sen.-elect Mark Kirk of Illinois will join his new colleagues during the lame-duck session, but will have to wait until after the state Board of Elections certifies his election, which may not be until after Thanksgiving.
* Remember that weird assistant attorney general in Michigan who launched a bizarre crusade against a gay college student for no apparent reason? He’s been fired.
* Kaplan sure does make a lot of money for the Washington Post Company.
* Why did Nicaragua sort-of invade Costa Rica? Because of Google Maps. (This is a subject regular readers of the Washington Monthly already know all about thanks to a fascinating recent report from John Gravois.)
* And at this point, it doesn’t look like Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) have any intention of caucusing with Republicans.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
