Today’s edition of quick hits:
* The Supreme Court sides with business interests once again: “The Supreme Court on Monday threw out the largest employment discrimination case in the nation’s history. The suit, against Wal-Mart Stores, had sought to consolidate the claims of as many as 1.5 million women on the theory that the company had discriminated against them in pay and promotion decisions.”
* Assad speaks: “In his first address in two months, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria promised on Monday not to bow to pressure from what he called ‘saboteurs,’ but offered a national dialogue that he said could bring change to a country where the ruling party and a single family have monopolized power for more than four decades…. Shortly after the address, activists reported protests erupting around Syria, including in the suburbs of Damascus.”
* Bob Gates confirmed these talks yesterday: “President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan said publicly for the first time on Saturday that the United States and the NATO-led coalition have been actively negotiating with the Taliban, an assertion he made in a speech that he also used to fire a broadside against his coalition allies.”
* As the accidental NATO strike on civilians helps prove, sometimes bombs land where they’re not supposed to.
* Good for those women in Saudi Arabia challenging the nation’s prohibitions on women driving.
* A big shake-up at ATF: “The acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is expected to resign in the next few days as a scandal over the agency’s ‘Fast and Furious’ anti-gun trafficking operation continues to boil.”
* If this suggests to you that we’re living in some kind of gilded age, you and I are on the same page.
* Given how expensive executions are, shouldn’t fiscal conservatives oppose capital punishment?
* I just don’t understand how anyone could take Amity Shlaes seriously.
* Ed Henry leaves CNN for Fox News. The guy has always struck me as more of a show horse than a work horse.
* Speaking of news media, MSNBC is reportedly developing a show for Chris Hayes. I’m a big fan of Chris’ work, and I’m delighted to see that the network intends to give him a bigger platform.
* And in still more media news, “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” launches tonight on Current.
* In general, I don’t really care that Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) rides the D.C. subway. But I can’t help but wonder, shouldn’t he reject this kind of government-subsidized public transportation, when there are private, free-market alternatives available? If it were up to Rand Paul, would the D.C. subway even exist?
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
