MONDAY'S MINI-REPORT.... Today's edition of quick hits:

* With tensions escalating quickly, South Korea is ending nearly all trade with North Korea, and blocking North Korean merchant ships access to South Korean shipping lanes.

* Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton described U.S. support of South Korea as "unequivocal," and announced that the American military and South Korean forces would initiate joint military exercises.

* Yemen: "Yemeni tribesmen kidnapped two American tourists, a man and a woman, Monday morning outside the capital city of Sana, the American Embassy in Yemen confirmed on Monday." The kidnappers are reportedly seeking the release of an imprisoned ally.

* Construction gains: "The drills, saws and sanders that fell silent during the economic slowdown are beginning to whir again. For the first time in years, U.S. builders are hiring laborers. The nation's construction industry added 14,000 jobs nationwide in April, according to the Labor Department, marking the first back-to-back monthly gains in that sector since 2006."

* Housing gains: "Homebuyers rushed to take advantage of government incentives and low mortgage rates in April, giving the housing market its biggest boost in five months."

* The Kandahar operation: "The Obama administration's campaign to drive the Taliban out of Afghanistan's second-largest city is a go-for-broke move that even its authors are unsure will succeed."

* Texas gubernatorial hopeful, Houston Mayor Bill White (D), will, if elected, try to undo the damage done to the state curriculum by the Texas Board of Education.

* There were many predictions that the Great Recession would lead to an increase in crime rates. The opposite occurred.

* Bagram: "A federal appeals court ruled Friday that three men who had been detained by the United States military for years without trial in Afghanistan had no recourse to American courts. The decision was a broad victory for the Obama administration in its efforts to hold terrorism suspects overseas for indefinite periods without judicial oversight."

* Ron Chusid sets Arthur C. Brooks straight.

* Fox News' on-air news team probably shouldn't use the word "we" when talking about Republicans, at least if the network intends to keep up appearances.

* Can a college's emphasis on research prestige actually undermine undergraduate education?

* I have no idea why anyone at a major news outlet would find the crossing of Elena Kagan's legs interesting.

* Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's wife apparently calls him "Mr. Clueless." She's referring to his familiarity with technology, but I kind of like the broader applicability of the label.

Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.

TUESDAY'S MINI-REPORT.... Today's edition of quick hits:

* This better work: "The most critical moment in the oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico is at hand, as BP engineers armed with 50,000 pounds of dense mud and a fleet of robotic submarines are poised to attempt a "top kill" maneuver to plug the leaking well a mile below the surface."

* President Obama will be back in Louisiana on Friday to assess the response to the BP oil spill disaster. In announcing the visit, the White House noted in a statement that the administration "has mobilized one of the largest responses to a catastrophic event in history, with more than 1,200 vessels in the region and more than 22,000 people, including many of the brightest scientific minds from both the public and private sector, working around the clock to mitigate the oil's impact."

* As far as the White House is concerned, there's no doubt this is the worst oil spill in American history.

* Tensions continue to rise: "Relations between North and South Korea, already strained over the sinking of a South Korean warship, deteriorated to their worst point in many years on Tuesday as the South Korean president redesignated the North as its archenemy, and the North retaliated by severing its few remaining ties with the South."

* Along the border: "President Obama will send up to 1,200 National Guard troops to the Southwest border and increase spending on law enforcement, yielding to demands from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers there that border security be tightened, administration officials said."

* U.S. consumer confidence rises to its highest level since August 2007.

* For the first time in seven years, there are more U.S. troops in Afghanistan than Iraq.

* Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) sees action on the climate/energy bill in mid-Summer.

* The administration weighs a new approach to the line-item veto.

* Get ready for Round 3 in the congressional fight to extend unemployment benefits.

* Fox News aired footage from Obama's speech at West Point, but carefully edited out all of the applause.

* Because college financial aid is tricky, many families rule out colleges they might be able to afford.

* Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) doesn't take criticism well.

* The chief ethics lawyer for George W. Bush believes there's nothing untoward about the Joe Sestak job offer.

* Vice President Biden will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Memorial Day. Some conservatives are outraged that the president isn't doing this himself. They shouldn't be.

* Ouch: "When Ann Curry, news anchor of the Today Show, gave the commencement speech at Wheaton College in Massachusetts last Saturday, she listed several famous graduates -- Wes Craven and Billy Graham among them -- of the wrong Wheaton College."

Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.

WEDNESDAY'S MINI-REPORT.... Today's edition of quick hits:

* The "top kill" effort to stop the oil gusher in the Gulf is underway. There is, of course, no guarantee it will work.

* BP's internal investigation of the disaster "points to a series of equipment failures, mistakes and missed warning signs that led to the blowout and fire on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, according to lawmakers briefed by the company."

* The Interior Department's Minerals Management Service is not held in high regard right now.

* Photo essays of the Gulf are not for the faint of heart.

* The State Department continues to state its support for South Korea, as tensions with North Korea escalate.

* New home sales got another boost, thanks to government tax credits. Orders on durable goods also offers signs of hope.

* With Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) announcing his support, the Senate Armed Services Committee is likely to approve a repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

* Service chiefs, however, still want to wait until after December (which, politically, would likely push off repeal until 2013, at the very earliest).

* Conservatives don't want to hear this, but police chiefs believe anti-immigrant measures like the one in Arizona will make crime worse, not better.

* The right has some new attack against Elena Kagan. It's already been debunked.

* Opponents still outnumber supporters, but health care reform's popularity has grown quite a bit over the last couple of months.

* Speaking of health care, the Affordable Care Act won't hurt state budgets.

* The return of the 'al-Qaeda Seven' witch hunt?

* Is the awards system for scientists way off?

* Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) is wrapping up his final year in the chamber on a classy note.

* Right-wing activist James O'Keefe pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.

* And finally, once in a while, Fox News's style of reporting is offensive and wrong, even conservative congressional Republicans can't take it. Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio) said on the House floor this week, "I don't know what they're doing at Fox News, but they should stop smoking it and get back to reporting the facts."

Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.

THURSDAY'S MINI-REPORT.... Today's edition of quick hits:

* The "top kill" efforts had to be temporarily halted this afternoon, but officials intend to re-start the pumping tonight. We won't have a sense of the efficacy for a while, but there's still a fair amount of optimism about the strategy.

* Tensions continue to rise around the Korean peninsula: "North Korea said on Thursday that it was cutting off a naval hot line used to prevent clashes on its disputed sea border with South Korea, while the South conducted a large naval drill in a show of force after the sinking of one of its warships."

* The White House's first formal National Security Strategy was released today.

* Are the votes there in the House to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"? Speaker Pelosi thinks so. We may see a vote tonight.

* New unemployment filings dropped by 14,000 last week. The numbers are -- let's all say it together -- still far too high, and the modest drop was not as strong as expected.

* Germany may not fully appreciate what the regional economic crisis will do to Germany.

* First quarter GDP numbers were slightly lower than originally estimated.

* Do House Dems have the votes to pass a new, post-Citizens United, campaign finance reform bill? The leadership thinks so, and we can expect a vote on the DISCLOSE Act fairly soon.

* The Justice Department are moving forward with plans to challenge Arizona's new anti-immigrant law.

* Justice Antonin Scalia and former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor don't see a problem with Elena Kagan's lack of judicial experience.

* It's just astounding that "more than 113 census takers have been the victims of assaults or attacks this month."

* Kaplan University's agreement to offer some California Community College courses isn't working out well.

* And as a rule, House Republicans are at their absolute nuttiest when they're trying to rationalize their hatred of gay people. It'd be funny if it weren't so pathetic.

Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.

FRIDAY'S MINI-REPORT.... Today's edition of quick hits:

* Two junk shot attempts in the Gulf have come up short: "BP's renewed efforts at plugging the flow of oil from its runaway well in the Gulf of Mexico stalled again on Friday, as the company suspended pumping operations for the second time in two days, according to a technician involved with the response effort."

* POTUS on the scene: "Under pressure to step up his response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, President Barack Obama tried to assure the country Thursday that he and his administration are in charge and working feverishly to clean up the mess."

* "You are not alone, and you will not be abandoned," Obama said. "We are on your side, and we will see this through."

* A deadly milestone in Afghanistan: "The U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, launched in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, reached a milestone today as reports of one more service member killed in the conflict raised the total number of U.S. military deaths in and around Afghanistan to 1,000."

* There's ample reason to be deeply skeptical about BP's claims.

* I continue to be amazed the deficit hawks are willing to undermine our fragile recovery: "The House passed a $93 billion package of jobless benefits and business tax breaks Friday after moderate Democrats fed up with deficit spending forced leaders to slice billions of additional dollars from the legislation. The House voted, 215 to 204, to approve the measure, which would extend expanded benefits for the unemployed through November, finance thousands of summer jobs and renew for one year dozens of expired tax credits and deductions for businesses and individuals."

* Consumer spending flattened in April.

* Peggy Noonan's column today was one of the more ridiculous pieces I've seen in quite a while. I lacked the stomach to pick it apart, but Andrew Sullivan, Ron Chusid, and Steve M. showed more patience.

* Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics officer under George W. Bush, considered the latest information in the Sestak "story." He told Greg Sargent, "Based on the information disclosed from the White House, it's even more apparent that this is a non issue. No scandal. Time to move on."

* And yet, when Rep. Darrel Issa (R-Calif.) held another ridiculous press conference, MSNBC carried the whole thing live. It's painful to see the kind of judgments major media outlets will sometimes make.

* Will Folks released phone records today documenting phone calls between himself and South Carolina gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley (R). Ed Kilgore bravely summarizes the latest details of the story.

* The Condition of Education is released with some interesting new revelations.

* And Glenn Beck used his radio show today to mock President Obama's 11-year-old daughter for several minutes. He later apologized, but it's a reminder that some of the leading right-wing voices are not only deranged, they're also classless.

Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.

MONDAY'S MINI-REPORT.... Today's edition of quick hits:

* As of this afternoon, there were nine confirmed fatalities and dozens of injuries in the violence off the coast of Gaza, where the Israeli military targeted an aid flotilla.

* As expected, the diplomatic crisis for Israel is fairly intense: "Several European nations and Turkey summoned Israeli envoys for an explanation of the actions. At the request of Turkey, The United Nations Security Council met in emergency session on Monday over the attack, which occurred in international waters north of Gaza and killed at least nine people."

* Israel's relationship with Turkey, a NATO member and key ally for Israel in the Muslim world, is poised to deteriorate to new lows.

* Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has postponed his trip to Washington, which was scheduled for tomorrow.

* The next effort to address the gusher of leaking oil in the Gulf carries a serious potential downside: it could make matters worse.

* BP CEO Tony Hayward went ridiculously off message, saying he'd like to resolve the crisis because it's the only way he'll get his life back. And BP wonders why so many are so incensed.

* Inching away from the brink on the Korean peninsula: "North Korea expressed a desire to keep a joint industrial complex in operation, South Korean officials said on Monday, while the South indicated that it might reconsider its decision to revive psychological warfare against the North. The two movements showed that the two Koreas were carefully weighing the option of easing their confrontation, analysts said."

* A severe storm forced President Obama to cancel his prepared Memorial Day remarks in Illinois this afternoon, fearful that the lightening may be dangerous for the audience. When it became apparent the storm would not clear anytime soon, the president met with families on buses where attendees had taken shelter.

* Germany's president, a largely ceremonial post, was forced to resign after making controversial remarks about using the military to protect the country's economic interests.

* Phoenix was home over the weekend to some large demonstrations both for and against Arizona's new anti-immigrant law.

* Ohio has seen its biggest jump in job growth in 22 years.

* The World Science Festival will get underway in New York this week. Looks like a great event.

* Great piece from the estimable Jessica Valenti on the "fake feminism" of a certain former half-term governor.

Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.

TUESDAY'S MINI-REPORT.... Today's edition of quick hits:

* The talk was more than just rhetoric: "Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday that federal authorities have opened criminal and civil investigations into the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill."

* More fallout from yesterday's violence: "The U.N. Security Council early Tuesday condemned 'those acts which resulted in' the deaths of at least nine civilians aboard an aid flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip, and called for a 'prompt, impartial, credible and transparent' investigation into why and how the Israeli military acted to stop the ships from reaching their destination."

* While additional efforts to challenge the Gaza Strip blockade are underway, the blockade has been loosened, at least for now.

* Fred Kaplan: "How Israel botched what should have been a straightforward military operation."

* The Obama administration is under intense pressure from several members of Congress to take Israel's side in the dispute. They're not all Republicans.

* For its part, the administration is urging U.S. allies to show restraint in their condemnations, pending additional information on exactly what transpired.

* BP needs some public relations help, so it's hired Dick Cheney's former campaign press secretary. He has a credible public reputation, right?

* More evidence of stimulus success: "The economic recovery gained strength on the biggest rise in construction spending in nearly a decade and the 10th straight month of expansion for the manufacturing sector."

* Adam Serwer takes a closer look at today's Supreme Court ruling on Miranda rights.

* Conditions in Haiti are stable enough to allow most of the U.S. forces on the ground to head home today.

* Get to know Rep. Darrel Issa (R-Calif.). He's quite a piece of work.

* Tim Noah explains why we always seem to be killing al Qaeda's #3.

* Number of segments CNN ran about Richard Blumenthal's (D) exaggerated military service record: 11. Number of segments CNN ran about Mark Kirk's (R) even more exaggerated military service record: zero. Remember, the right still believes the media's liberal.

* Student loans are starting to seem like a structural problem. Isn't it time for a structural solution?

* And if you weren't around over the weekend, I hope you'll take a moment to consider this item from Saturday, about the new rules the political world is applying to President Obama, which weren't applied to his predecessors. I think it's important, and I'm trying to get the word out

Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.

WEDNESDAY'S MINI-REPORT.... Today's edition of quick hits:

* The cut-and-cap effort isn't working, either: "As the crude crept closer to Florida, the risky effort to contain the nation's worst oil spill hit a snag Wednesday when a diamond-edged saw became stuck in a thick pipe on a blown-out well at the bottom of the Gulf."

* Netanyahu's defense: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mounted a vigorous public defense of Israel's blockade of Gaza on Wednesday.... In his first nationally broadcast comments on the raid, Mr. Netanyahu accused Israel's critics of hypocrisy and said the blockade of the Hamas-controlled territory of Gaza was necessary to prevent rockets and missiles from being smuggled to militants."

* Right-wing media personalities and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) are suggesting President Obama is partly to blame for the incident off the Israeli coast. Seriously.

* In the meantime, the White House has urged Israel -- privately and publicly -- to show great restraint when it comes to other aid ships on their way towards Gaza.

* Afghanistan: "Taliban militants launched a suicide attack on Afghanistan's national peace conference Wednesday as President Hamid Karzai interrupted his opening remarks to reassure nervous delegates hearing the thump of rockets and rattle of gunfire outside. No delegates were harmed but at least two attackers were killed in fighting with Afghan security forces near the giant tent erected for the three-day gathering, officials said."

* Getting North Korea's attention: "The U.S. aircraft carrier USS George Washington will participate in a joint naval exercise with South Korea next week in the Yellow Sea, the same waters west of the Korean peninsula where North Korea is accused of sinking a South Korean warship last March, ABC News has learned."

* I'm not sure why BP can't see oil plumes that are clearly there.

* Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.) would like to see BP CEO Tony Hayward lose his job.

* In related news, Hayward is sorry about the whole "want my life back" thing.

* Better than expected news on pending home sales.

* Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama resigns, in large part because of a broken promise to get rid of a U.S. base in Okinawa.

* Democrats' Wall Street reform bill is popular, and apparently so is Elena Kagan.

* Scary thought: Newsmax would like to purchase Newsweek.

* The Collegiate Learning Assessment may not be the most effective test.

* Occasionally, the Weekly Standard really is cringe-worthy.

* And Glenn Beck now believes he never said U.S. officials are "mimicking" Nazi Germany. That's true, except for all the times he said U.S. officials are "mimicking" Nazi Germany.

Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.

THURSDAY'S MINI-REPORT.... Today's edition of quick hits:

* A modicum of preliminary progress at the source: "Delicately manipulating a 20-foot-long shear at depths of nearly a mile, technicians successfully snipped a key riser pipe on Thursday in their effort to contain the oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico from a stricken undersea well. They prepared to cap the severed pipe later in the day with a dome that they hoped would allow them to funnel the oil to tankers on the surface."

* President Obama will return to the Gulf Coast for another visit tomorrow -- his third trip in a month. He also put all new oil drilling in the Gulf on hold, and sent BP a bill for $69 million.

* Louisiana's plan to dredge up walls of sand to protect coastal marshes has been approved by the White House. BP will have to fully fund that, too.

* There are new projections that show the enormous spill reaching Florida soon, and heading up the Atlantic Coast in the coming weeks and months.

* No, we're not going to nuke the spill.

* One of the fatalities aboard the flotilla headed for Gaza was a 19-year-old American, who was shot five times, including four shots to the head.

* Another slight improvement in the number of Americans filing for jobless benefits. It's still too high.

* Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) stopped by the White House for a chat with the president.

* The Obama administration is crafting new protections for airline passengers.

* Even the Republican-led state Senate in Kentucky has no use for Rand Paul's extremism on the Civil Rights Act.

* Terrific move by the NYT: "The New York Times said Thursday that it would begin hosting the popular blog FiveThirtyEight and make its founder, Nate Silver, a regular contributor to the newspaper and the Sunday magazine."

* On a related note, Greg Sargent had an insightful item about the new model of ideological journalism.

* George W. Bush, still O.K. with torture.

* Great column on former Supreme Court Justice David Souter's approach to "originalism," and its "tenuous connection to reality."

* The three-year bachelor's degree may not be a great idea.

* The Blagojevich trial gets underway in Chicago.

* The right's rhetoric about the Community Reinvestment Act is so tiresome.

* Did Bill O'Reilly compare gay people to al Qaeda last night? Yep, pretty much.

Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.

FRIDAY'S MINI-REPORT.... Today's edition of quick hits:

* At the source: "BP began capturing some of the oil and gas gushing from a damaged Gulf of Mexico well Friday after placing a containment cap on the wellhead deep below the surface.... The containment device was successfully funneling oil and gas to a drill ship stationed above the source of the massive spill, BP officials and the U.S. Coast Guard commander on the scene said. But they cautioned that it remains unclear how much of the leaking crude is being captured and said some seepage would continue even in a best-case scenario."

* President Obama is on the scene again, and sees some signs of progress.

* The president has, once again, been forced to indefinitely delay his trip to Australia, Indonesia, and Guam.

* Florida: "Tar balls and tar cakes rolled onto the shores of Pensacola Beach Friday morning, just as federal officials announced that a cap over the gusher has started to work."

* BP's efforts to contain media coverage of the disaster are more than a little troubling.

* Looks like retired Air Force Gen. James Clapper will be nominated as the next Director of National Intelligence.

* Another showdown off the coast of Gaza appears imminent.

* Gut-wrenching: "Another female ex-employee of KBR has come forward to claim that she was raped while working for the military contracting company in Iraq. According to a lawsuit filed in federal court in Houston Wednesday, Anna Mayo was working at KBR's facility in Balad in November 2009 when she was assaulted by an unnamed rapist who worked for KBR. She charges that she was choked unconscious with a rope, beaten and raped."

* Afghanistan: "Afghan President Hamid Karzai got a modest political boost Friday when a national peace conference backed his efforts to launch substantive talks with the Taliban and other Afghan insurgent forces."

* I just didn't have the patience to debunk David Rivkin's latest misleading op-ed. Fortunately, Matt Gertz was up to the task.

* It's heartening to see the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division function again, the way it should. The way in which Bush/Cheney gutted the office was a genuine tragedy.

* U.S. News put together a pro-con debate between Democratic Sens. Mary Landrieu (La.) and Bill Nelson (Fla.) over whether offshore drilling should be expanded. I think Nelson's take is far more compelling.

* The Department of Education makes a smart staffing move.

* Nice graphic on how a bill becomes a law. (thanks to S.S. for the heads-up)

Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.

MONDAY'S MINI-REPORT.... Today's edition of quick hits:

* The containment cap in the Gulf is gradually collecting even more of the gushing oil. Nevertheless, a bigger cap is in the works, which will provide a tighter and more effective fit.

* After a briefing from Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, President Obama said at a cabinet meeting that the administration would hold BP fully accountable, and that officials would work with states to revitalize the Gulf Coast in the long run.

* BP thinks it's paid "every claim" thus far. It hasn't.

* Afghanistan: "Ten NATO soldiers, including seven Americans, were killed in a wave of violence in Afghanistan on Monday -- the deadliest day this year for the international forces. The bloodshed came as Taliban insurgents ramp up bombings and attacks on NATO forces ahead of a major operation in the southern Taliban stronghold of Kandahar that Washington hopes will turn the tide of the war."

* Mohamed Mahmood Alessa and Carlos Eduardo Almonte: "Two New Jersey men who were bound for Somalia with the stated intention of joining an Islamic extremist group to kill American troops were arrested at Kennedy International Airport late Saturday, federal and local authorities said on Sunday." They seem to have been complete idiots.

* Afghanistan's top intelligence chief and interior minister quit over the weekend.

* Wikileaks' source gets busted: "Federal officials have arrested an Army intelligence analyst who boasted of giving classified U.S. combat video and hundreds of thousands of classified State Department records to whistleblower site Wikileaks, Wired.com has learned."

* If the federal government puts money into the economy, and state governments take money out of the economy, the result isn't encouraging.

* Just think of the money we'd save if we closed the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.

* Right-wing criticism of the media might be slightly more coherent if those doing the criticizing were even vaguely aware of what the media actually reports.

* Fact-checking the Sunday shows.

* As Newsweek's troubles continue, it has to hope that it doesn't lose its best talent. It's already a serious problem: Michael Isikoff has left the magazine to join NBC News.

* College isn't just about knowledge acquisition and learning.

* Replacing a fake White House correspondent with a fake news network isn't a good idea: don't give Helen Thomas' seat to Fox News.

* Ironic signs at BP gas stations: "Warning: Do Not Leave Pumps Unattended. You Are Responsible For Spills."

Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.

TUESDAY'S MINI-REPORT.... Today's edition of quick hits:

* Plumes in the Gulf: The government confirmed Tuesday that plumes of dispersed oil were spreading far below the ocean surface from the leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico, raising fresh concerns about the potential impact of the spill on sea life. Tests conducted by researchers at the University of South Florida found that the concentrations of oil-related chemicals in the water were generally low. Still, the tests confirmed that some toxic compounds that would normally be expected to evaporate from the surface in a shallow-water oil spill were instead spreading through the ocean in the Deepwater Horizon leak."

* Progress with the containment cap: "A containment cap placed over the leaking BP oil well in the Gulf of Mexico is now sucking up even more oil to the surface -- nearly 15,000 barrels (630,000 gallons) a day, more than the low end of the government's estimate of all the oil that was leaking, Coast Guard Adm. Thad W. Allen said Monday morning."

* BP "systemically ignored its own safety policies," not just in the Gulf, but throughout its North American operations.

* Big vote tomorrow on Iran: "The United States and its allies called for a U.N. vote Wednesday on imposing new sanctions on Iran's suspect nuclear program, and U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said those would be followed by even stricter unilateral penalties by Washington and others."

* President Obama returns to health care, selling his policy to seniors.

* Police have charged a father-and-son team for threatening Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and his family over the health care vote.

* A high school in Kalamazoo was fortunate enough to get the president as a commencement speaker yesterday: "On Monday, he imparted his buck-stops-here philosophy to an audience of high school graduates, telling them: 'Don't make excuses. Take responsibility not just for your successes. Take responsibility where you fall short as well.'"

* The media's best efforts notwithstanding, few Americans actually care whether the White House offered jobs to Senate candidates.

* Defense Secretary Robert Gates has a pretty tough job.

* The college accreditation system needs some work.

* The artist formerly known as Blackwater is up for sale. In the meantime, as silly as this seems, the company is getting into the retail game. (thanks to reader J.B. for the tip)

* Chait flags a photo of a protestor trying to tie together multiple right-wing conspiracy theories in one bizarre message. It's quite an "accomplishment."

* Annoying media outlets to the president: Once more, with feeling.

Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.

WEDNESDAY'S MINI-REPORT.... Today's edition of quick hits:

* President Obama is headed back to the Gulf Coast next week, for his fourth trip since the BP oil spill began. This time, he'll be in Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.

* The administration, meanwhile, is tightening the BP leash: "The Coast Guard told BP on Wednesday that it wanted to monitor the process of paying out compensation claims from the country's worst oil spill, and it pressed the company to come up with a better plan for collecting and processing the thousands of barrels of leaked oil now being recovered from the damaged oil well in the Gulf of Mexico."

* Turtle Bay: "The U.N. Security Council imposed a fourth round of sanctions in as many years on a defiant Iran on Wednesday over a nuclear program the West suspects is aimed at developing atomic weapons."

* The sanctions aren't the final word on the subject. They're just the beginning - the "1" of a "1,2,3 punch," as one senior White House official told Jake Tapper.

* Afghanistan: "Taliban insurgents shot down a NATO helicopter in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing four United States soldiers on board, according to Afghan and United States military officials."

* In related news, the Taliban have also been "stepping up a campaign of assassinations in recent months against officials and anyone associated with local government in an attempt to undermine counterinsurgency operations in the south."

* The Federal Reserve's Beige Book offers mild encouragement: "The economic recovery is finally spreading to all parts of the country. But the modest pace of growth suggests companies won't be ramping up hiring to quickly drive down unemployment. A Federal Reserve survey, released Wednesday, found that economic activity improved across all 12 regions tracked. The last time all regions were in a growth mode was roughly before the recession started in December 2007."

* The military still has far more to do on traumatic brain injuries.

* Are conservatives better informed about economics? Um, no.

* In the future will American colleges need to educate more students, make greater use of technology, or come up with new funding strategies? All of the above?

* I'm convinced: Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) has earned a #1 seed in my March-Madness-Style brackets for Most Ridiculous Member of Congress.

* Karl Rove, the Republicans' electoral genius, seems to think 48 plus 45 equals 100. That would explain a few things.

Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.

THURSDAY'S MINI-REPORT.... Today's edition of quick hits:

* I'll believe it when the checks arrive: "Oil giant BP, under mounting pressure to meet its obligations in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, has agreed to implement a more transparent and expedited claims process to pay individuals and businesses harmed by the disaster, U.S. officials said Thursday."

* Is BP doing enough to protect the health of workers fighting the oil spill in the Gulf? Probably not.

* President Obama spent about an hour today with the families of those killed in the Deepwater Horizon explosion.

* House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is still working out his argument when it comes to taxpayers being on the hook for the disaster in the Gulf.

* Afghanistan: "A suicide bomb ripped through a wedding party for a family with ties to police in the Taliban's heartland in Afghanistan, killing at least 40 people and wounding dozens more, officials said Thursday."

* Things aren't going as well as we hoped in Kandahar, and Gen. McChrystal wants more time.

* New applications for unemployment benefits -- still too high.

* After recent events in Arkansas, at least the White House seems to realize it needs to mend some fences with labor.

* The conference committee on Wall Street reform got to work today.

* GOP lawmakers in Tennessee tried to pass measures to block the Affordable Care Act at the state level. They failed. (thanks to reader P.A. for the tip)

* Glenn Greenwald references this post of mine from December in a critical way, but re-reading what I wrote, I think the larger point stands up pretty well. Yglesias has some related thoughts.

* A college degree is hardly a guarantee when it comes to staying out of poverty.

* The press conference on the Hill today on mohair subsidies went surprisingly badly for Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.). Put it this way: it's a bad sign when members of Congress leave a press conference bleeding.

* If it's all right with Politico, I'd prefer we skip the discussion over what White House officials are wearing.

Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.

FRIDAY'S MINI-REPORT.... Today's edition of quick hits:

* Officials have nearly doubled the estimate of the amount of oil gushing into the Gulf every day. The new estimate puts the total at between 25,000 to 30,000 barrels of oil a day. Another group of experts concluded the range is between 20,000 and 40,000.

* A conservative estimate of the costs of this disaster: $28 billion.

* Upping the pressure on the Republican congressional leadership, a House GOP lawmaker -- from Florida -- has endorsed lifting the liability cap.

* Iraq: "Two American soldiers were killed and six were wounded Friday by a car bomb north of Baghdad, wrapping up a week of renewed insurgent attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq."

* Afghanistan: "Two U.S. troops and at least 11 civilians died in violence across southern Afghanistan on Friday, including one attack in which a suicide bomber wearing a burqa blew himself up in a bazaar."

* Not good: "Sales at retailers unexpectedly fell in May, raising some questions about how much consumers will be able to continue contributing to an economic recovery."

* Eyes on the prize: "President Obama, returning to his theme of 'jobs, jobs, jobs,' called on Congress Friday to pass a string of initiatives aimed at spurring hiring by small businesses, including a plan to take $30 billion from the fund that bailed out Wall Street financial institutions and steer it to community banks to lend to small firms."

* A real scandal at Arlington National Cemetery.

* South Carolina state Sen. Jake Knotts (R) has been "officially rebuked by his county Republican Party" for his "raghead" slurs.

* Good move: "In a vote that advocates of abortion rights sought beforehand to keep quiet, the Senate Armed Services Committee passed a provision on May 27 to allow privately financed abortions at military hospitals and bases."

* Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) did the right thing vetoing an odious anti-abortion bill.

* Terrific piece from Dahlia Lithwick on former Supreme Court Justice David Souter's commencement speech at Harvard.

* The future of affirmative action in college admissions.

* I hadn't heard about Roger Simon's health issues, and welcome him back to work.

* The right-wing media really seems to hate soccer and the World Cup.

* Glenn Beck should try to leave the president's family alone.

* And on a related note, Media Matters takes a look at Beck's new novel. Based on the review, it may be the among the worst novels ever written.

Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.

MONDAY'S MINI-REPORT.... Today's edition of quick hits:

* New plan: "British energy giant BP unveiled a plan on Monday it hopes will vastly increase the amount of oil it is capturing from its blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico as President Barack Obama arrived there to assert leadership in clean-up efforts."

* BP: "For the sake of saving time and drilling costs on its ill-fated exploration well, BP took 'shortcuts' that led to the oil spill disaster that will end up costing the oil giant billions of dollars in cleanup and compensation costs, according to a letter from two House Democrats who have been leading an investigation of the spill."

* President Obama spent the day along the Gulf Coast, during his fourth trip to the region since the April 20 explosion. The White House also learned today that all the major networks will carry his Oval Office address tomorrow.

* International assistance: "In late May, the administration accepted Mexico's offer of two skimmers and 13,779 feet of boom; a Dutch offer of three sets of Koseq sweeping arms, which attach to the sides of ships and gather oil; and eight skimming systems offered by Norway."

* There's apparently not much point in calling BP's toll-free call centers.

* The session didn't last long, but Iraq's new parliament met today for the first time.

* The Supreme Court announced that it won't hear the appeal of Maher Arar's case. Adam Serwer explores the significance.

* Marc Ambinder has some compelling pushback over the reports of lucrative mineral deposits in Afghanistan.

* Israel creates a government-appointed commission to investigate the raid on the Gaza flotilla.

* An apparent deal with the NRA may help advance a new campaign finance bill on the Hill.

* TARP money continues to be repaid.

* Ella: "A French drug company is seeking to offer American women something their European counterparts already have: a pill that works long after 'the morning after.' ... But the new drug is a close chemical relative of the abortion pill RU-486, raising the possibility that it could also induce abortion by making the womb inhospitable for an embryo."

* Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) still hates the idea of repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," but he also still seems badly confused over the policy details.

* Fact checking the Sunday shows.

* Speaking of the Sunday shows, why aren't more women invited on as guests?

* The Senate prepares hearings on American for-profit schools and their policies.

* Who wrote Glenn Beck's new novel? It's hard to say for sure, but the only thing we know for sure is that Beck didn't. The deranged media personality conceded there was "no way" he was going to sit down and actually write the book.

Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.

LOL @Annthrax Coulter ~ did I ever tell you my personal Ann Coulter story, Thack?

Sooz

NO ~ and ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww ~

My former firm has gotten a lot of attention because of founding/funding/operating a charter elementary school ~ not long after we opened, Ann Coulter called to schedule an interview with my boss ~ he was out and I answered his phone ~ she said it was Ann Coulter and asked to speak to him ~ I said he was out of the office but was happy to take a message or put her in voicemail ~ she then proceeded to explain she was a "journalist on deadline" and it was "very important" that he talk to her ~ I repeated he was out of the office and repeated that I could take a message or put her into voicemail ~ she again repeated that she was Ann Coulter and was "on deadline" ~ I said I understood that, but he still wasn't in the office ~ she repeated yet again that she was Ann Coulter ~ I had had my fill by this time, so I said "one moment, please" and transferred her into voicemail ~

When he came back to the office a couple of hours later, he mentioned he had gotten a message from Ann Coulter ~ I laughed and told him what happened ~ he just rolled his eyes ~ after he returned her call, he came out of his office, laughing ~ he told me she asked if his "helper" was always so bitchy ~ his reply was "yes, isn't she great?" ~

Sooz

TUESDAY'S MINI-REPORT.... Today's edition of quick hits:

* It's been that kind of disaster: "A drill ship resumed siphoning off oil gushing from a blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday after a bolt of lightning struck the vessel and ignited a fire that halted containment efforts, the company said."

* Rumor has it that former Justice Department inspector general Michael Bromwich will, any minute now, be named the new director of the Minerals Management Service -- the Interior Department agency severely corrupted during the Bush/Cheney administration.

* The House Energy and Commerce Committee held a tense hearing today, during which lawmakers demanded the CEOs of the world's largest oil companies "justify offshore drilling and explain how their safety practices differed from BP's."

* The executives' answers were not exactly well received.

* Just six days before the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded: "BP took measures to cut costs in the weeks before the catastrophic blowout in the Gulf of Mexico as it dealt with one problem after another, prompting a BP engineer to describe the doomed rig as a 'nightmare well,' according to internal documents released Monday."

* During his trip to the Gulf Coast, President Obama spoke at a rally with U.S. troops in Pensacola: "This is an assault on our shores, and we're going to fight back with everything we've got," the president told a fired-up crowd of Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine and Coast Guard troops this morning, to cheers. "And that includes mobilizing our resources with the greatest military in the world."

* I guess old habits die hard: "Nearly two dozen members of the House GOP from the Gulf Coast region, joined by Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.), called Tuesday for President Obama to reverse the post-BP disaster moratorium on offshore drilling in deep water."

* At first blush, preemptive relief well drilling seems entirely reasonable.

* Minor drug offenses will no longer trigger automatic deportation for documented immigrants.

* James Rubin offers a very compelling defense of U.S. foreign policy in the Obama era.

* Yes, it really does seem like we're introduced to another Republican "nutjob" every week.

* The New York Times' Jim Risen does not seem to respond to criticism well.

* The U.S. education system still needs to catch up to economic realities.

* And finally, it appears that Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) really is on a roll this week. Last night, he took to the floor of the House to argue that Arizona law enforcement can also target undocumented immigrants by considering "what kind of shoes people wear" and through utilizing "a sixth sense."

Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.

WEDNESDAY'S MINI-REPORT.... Today's edition of quick hits:

* The latest official estimates state that "as much as 60,000 barrels a day could be spewing into the Gulf of Mexico." That's about double the figure from last week. Josh Nelson has more.

* Not sure why this didn't happen sooner: "BP expanded its effort to recover oil at its runaway Deepwater Horizon well overnight, activating a system it hopes will raise the amount of crude being collected to 20,000 to 28,000 barrels a day."

* At the White House today, when BP executives spoke briefly at the media, they did not take questions. ABC's Jake Tapper asked, "How's that 'relative trickle' going?" in reference CEO Tony Hayward describing the oil gusher in the Gulf as a "relative trickle."

* Don't worry, though, BP won't forget about "the small people."

* If lawmakers cared as much about struggling families as they do about long-term deficits, votes like these wouldn't happen: "A Democratic effort to break a Senate impasse over a major package of tax breaks, tax increases and unemployment pay failed Wednesday morning on a test vote, forcing the leadership to begin scaling back the measure in order to win over Republicans and Democrats worried about the bill's $140 billion cost and its impact on the national deficit."

* Congressional ethics investigations are underway, looking at eight lawmakers -- five Republicans and three Democrats -- who "held fundraisers within 48 hours of a major House vote on a Wall Street reform bill or received substantial donations from business people with a financial stake in the bill."

* Deserves additional scrutiny: "It hasn't gotten much attention nationally, but on Monday a man and a woman in their 20s showed up at an entrance to one of the most important military bases in the country with a car full of guns and fraudulent military ID."

* Smart post from Yglesias: "The Filibuster and Incentive-Compatible Governance."

* Lawrence O'Donnell will get his own hour-long 10 p.m. (ET) weekday slot, following "Countdown" at 8 and "The Rachel Maddow Show" at 9.

* Retired Gen. John Sheehan seems to really hate gay people.

* Ted Frier scrutinizes Arthur C. Brooks so I don't have to.

* The continuing recession is apparently causing some college graduates to flock to jobs as skilled laborers.

* Fox News claimed today that the White House gave part of Arizona to Mexico. The story is 100% wrong, proving again that you're better off just guessing the news than relying on Fox.

* Rush Limbaugh has now decided he hates the school-lunch program, and believes low-income children should "dumpster dive." Classy.

Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.