MONDAY’S MINI-REPORT…. Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Libyan rebels regain the momentum, for now: “Rebel forces’ westward charge was repulsed on Monday by a barrage of tank and artillery fire from forces guarding one of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s most crucial bastions of support, while the American military warned on Monday that the insurgents’ rapid advances could quickly be reversed without continued coalition air support.”
* President Obama will deliver a speech tonight, at 7:30 eastern, spelling out U.S. policy in more detail.
* Japan: “Workers discovered new pools of radioactive water leaking from Japan’s crippled nuclear complex, officials said Monday, as emergency crews struggled to pump out hundreds of tons of contaminated water and bring the plant back under control.”
* The Washington Post had an impressive piece over the weekend about Mohammed Bouazizi, who lit himself on fire in Tunisia, and instigated a regional uprising that was hard to predict just a few months ago.
* Remember reports about Michelle Rhee’s extraordinary successes as chancellor of D.C. schools? Many of her accomplishments may have been radically exaggerated, to the point where her entire record may now be suspect.
* Indiana: “Indiana House Democrats who fled the state nearly six weeks ago to protest a Republican agenda they considered an assault on labor unions and public education planned to return to the Statehouse on Monday, ending one of the longest legislative walkouts in recent U.S. history.”
* Maine’s buffoonish governor, Paul LaPage (R), quietly completed the removal of a mural depicting Maine’s labor history from the state Department of Labor.
* Well worth reading: “From Poll Taxes To Voter ID Laws: A Short History of Conservative Voter Suppression.”
* I didn’t realize the system was quite this ridiculous: “From the FT: stock in Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffet’s company, jumps every time Anne Hathaway, the actress, gets a lot of media play. Why? The claim is that it’s the fault of robotrading algorithms, which now account for most of the market, and which sometimes rely among other things on trends in news coverage.”
* Getting more people through college will probably mean a focus on non-traditional students, not high school students.
* Dear gullible conservatives, I think Bill Ayers is messing with you.
* Donald Trump isn’t just spewing idiocy, he’s now spewing idiocy that was popular among extremists in 2007. Ben Smith added, “Trump isn’t even up to date on his Birther lunacy.”
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
