* It sure would be nice if someone focused on job creation: "More Americans than forecast filed claims for unemployment benefits last week, reflecting the volatility of applications during the annual auto-plant retooling period. Applications for jobless benefits increased 10,000 in the week ended July 16 to 418,000, Labor Department figures showed today."

BLAME OBAMA!!!

July 22, 2011 5:30 PM
Friday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's edition of quick hits:

* Terror rocks Oslo: “Norway suffered two shocking attacks on Friday, when powerful explosions shook the government center in the capital and, shortly after, a gunman stalked youths on an island summer camp for children of members of the governing Labor Party. Police were treating the assaults, which together killed at least 16 people, as connected, according to Norweigian news media, though it remained unclear who was behind them.â€

July 25, 2011 5:30 PM
Monday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's edition of quick hits:

* President Obama will deliver a national address this evening on the Republicans' debt-ceiling crisis. It will begin at 9 p.m., and be delivered from the East Room.

* Oslo: “The man accused of the killing spree in Norway was deeply influenced by a small group of American bloggers and writers who have warned for years about the threat from Islam, lacing his 1,500-page manifesto with quotations from them, as well as copying multiple passages from the tract of the Unabomber. In the document he posted online, Anders Behring Breivik, who is accused of bombing government buildings and killing scores of young people at a Labor Party camp, showed that he had closely followed the acrimonious American debate over Islam.â€

July 26, 2011 5:30 PM
Tuesday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's edition of quick hits:

* If Speaker Boehner's budget bill were to somehow reach the White House, President Obama would veto it.

* That probably won't matter, since the Boehner bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said today, can't pass the Senate. (If it fails to pass the House tomorrow, this is a moot point.)

* Dems will try to ensure the Boehner bill doesn't manage to pass thanks to support from a few Blue Dogs: “House Democratic leaders will be whipping votes against a GOP plan to raise the debt limit and slash federal spending, the office of Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the minority whip, said Tuesday.â€

[i]It was in the 2010 “Pledge to Americaâ€

[quote="oskar576"][i]It was in the 2010 “Pledge to Americaâ€

[quote="sooz08"][quote="oskar576"][i]It was in the 2010 “Pledge to Americaâ€

July 27, 2011 5:30 PM
Wednesday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's edition of quick hits:

* House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has spent two straight days rallying support from his own caucus for a budget proposal that will then die in the Senate. By nearly all accounts, he'll get to 217.

* Counter-terrorism: “U.S. counterterrorism officials are increasingly convinced that the killing of Osama bin Laden and the toll of seven years of CIA drone strikes have pushed al¬Qaeda to the brink of collapse.â€

July 28, 2011 5:30 PM
Thursday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's edition of quick hits:

* As of eight minutes ago, tonight's vote on House Speaker John Boehner's budget plan has been “postponed.â€

July 29, 2011 5:30 PM
Friday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's edition of quick hits:

* By some accounts, the House will pass the Republican debt-ceiling measure within the hour, clearing the way for the Senate to defeat it later tonight. Of course, this assumes Boehner really does have the votes, which at this point, appears to be a safe bet.

* If the Boehner plan wouldn't preserve the AAA credit rating of the United States, why is anyone even talking about it as a possibility? Shouldn't that be an automatic deal-breaker?

* I'm actually rather impressed this keeps happening: “Telephone circuits into the House of Representatives were once again near capacity on Friday after President Obama called on Americans to keep up their calls to Congress.â€

August 01, 2011 5:30 PM
Monday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's edition of quick hits:

* Late word from the Senate says the upper chamber will push off its vote on the debt deal until tomorrow. Since Senate passage isn't considered a problem, this isn't cause for concern, but Congress' habit of waiting literally until the last day really isn't helpful.

* In case there were any doubts, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced this afternoon she will vote for the debt-ceiling agreement.

* As of this writing, the House vote is still on track to occur within two hours. If there's a delay, it would suggest the bill's in trouble.

* A score (pdf) from the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the debt deal will reduce the debt by $2.1 trillion over the next decade.

* Syria: “Syrian security forces bombed the central city of Hama for a second day on Monday as the government pressed its campaign to crush a four-month-old popular uprising against the government of President Bashar al-Assad. On Sunday, at least 70 people were killed when the military and security forces assaulted Hama and other restive cities before dawn, in the broadest and fiercest crackdown yet.â€

August 02, 2011 5:30 PM
Tuesday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's edition of quick hits:

* There was an 11th-hour Senate effort to prevent a widespread FAA shutdown. It looks like the effort failed, which means the House Republican stunt will cost Americans billions of dollars in uncollected taxes, and put tens of thousands of American jobs on hold for at least a month.

* The “relief rallyâ€

August 03, 2011 5:30 PM
Wednesday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's edition of quick hits:

* U.N. weighs in on Syria: “After months of inaction, the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday issued its first formal condemnation of Syria for its use of force against civilians during a bloody crackdown that has killed as many as 2,000 anti-government protesters.â€

August 04, 2011 5:30 PM
Thursday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's edition of quick hits:

* All is not well in the world of global finance.

* Oddly enough, the day's economic news didn't start off all that badly, with the Labor Department announcing that initial unemployment claims ticked down a little to a seasonally adjusted 400,000.

* On a related note, while it seems ridiculous to point to good economic data today, I suppose it's also worth noting that July retail sales were up

* Under “intenseâ€

August 05, 2011 5:30 PM
Friday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's edition of quick hits:

* There are widespread reports this afternoon that Standard & Poor's, the bond rating agency, will downgrade the United States, despite this week's debt-reduction agreement. S&P will reportedly cite Republican intransigence on revenue as part of the rationale, drawing a direct connection between GOP policies and a step that will further weaken the economy.

* Syria: “Syria's state media broadcast stark images of the destruction in the besieged city of Hama for the first time on Friday, showing burnt buildings, makeshift barricades and deserted streets strewn with rubble, in footage that appeared designed to show that government forces had put down a rebellion in the city.â€

August 08, 2011 5:30 PM
Monday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's edition of quick hits:

* Europe: “The interest rates on Spanish and Italian bonds plummeted Monday, and European bank shares soared, as the European Central Bank expanded its purchases of government debt to support Madrid and Rome for the first time.â€

August 09, 2011 5:30 PM
Tuesday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's edition of quick hits:

* That's a 1,000-point swing over 24 hours: “At the close, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 429.92 points, or nearly 4 percent, at 11,239.77. Standard & Poor's 500-stock index was up 53.07 points, or 4.74 percent, at 1,172.53, the largest point gain in a day since March 2009, and the Nasdaq was up 5.29 percent, or 124.83 points, at 2,482.52.â€

August 10, 2011 5:30 PM
Wednesday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's edition of quick hits:

* Oh, to have been a fly on the wall for this one: “President Obama is scheduled to meet with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday afternoon at the White House.â€

August 11, 2011 5:30 PM
Thursday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's edition of quick hits:

* The best data since early April: “Claims for unemployment insurance payments in the U.S. unexpectedly fell last week to a four-month low, signaling the recent slowdown in payroll gains is due to a lack of hiring rather than more firings.â€

[i]* During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the United States reached DEFCON 2. On 9/11, we were at DEFCON 3. As far as Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) we should currently be at DEFCON 1. He told Fox News, “I think that we're at that point in time right now.â€

August 12, 2011 5:30 PM
Friday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's edition of quick hits:

* It's at least mildly encouraging to see U.S. retail sales climbed in July, posting their biggest jump since March.

* After all of the radical swings on Wall Street over the last several days, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the week at roughly the same point that it started the week.

* Syria: “Tens of thousands of Syrians in cities and towns around their country took to the streets on Friday after noon prayers shouting ‘We will not kneel' in a strong show of defiance against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, and at least 15 protesters were killed by security forces, human rights activists and residents said.â€

August 16, 2011 5:30 PM
Tuesday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's edition of quick hits:

* S&P didn't persuade Fitch: “Fitch Ratings said on Tuesday it affirmed the United States' top-notch credit rating at AAA, giving the world's largest economy a reprieve after it was downgraded by Standard & Poor's little more than a week ago. Fitch said the outlook for the rating was stable.â€

August 17, 2011 5:30 PM
Wednesday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's edition of quick hits:

* Undermining the Christie boomlet: “Lights out for Chris Christie. Today there was buzz about him possibly jumping into the race, but that's over. New Jersey just got its credit rating downgraded by Fitch from AA to AA-.â€

August 18, 2011 5:30 PM
Thursday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's edition of quick hits:

* So much for the respite: “After just a few days of calm, stocks declined steeply on Thursday in a worldwide sell-off. The downturn was driven by fresh concerns that the worldwide economy is slowing and that Europe's debt crisis is putting strain on the financial sector.â€

[i]* S&P still has some explaining to do: “The Justice Department is investigating whether the nation's largest credit ratings agency, Standard & Poor's, improperly rated dozens of mortgage securities in the years leading up to the financial crisis.â€