The voters might think otherwise if the companies made it clear.

December 05, 2011 5:30 PM
Monday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's edition of quick hits:

* Progress in Europe: “Under growing pressure from nervous financial markets, the leaders of France and Germany reached a difficult compromise agreement Monday to seek mandatory limits on budget deficits among debt-laden European governments.â€

[i]* Iran: “The huge explosion that destroyed a major missile-testing site near Tehran three weeks ago was a major setback for Iran's most advanced long-range missile program, according to American and Israeli intelligence officials and missile technology experts…. It is still unclear what caused the explosion.â€

It's everybody's fault except Israel's.

Well... apparently the US military successfully tested a ram jet powered missile that can be launched from any location in the US and hit any target anywhere in the world in one hour. I wonder if that was the "successful test"?

Yeah, the Palestinians think so.

[quote][i]* At least 63 dead in brutal attacks in Afghanistan: “A Pakistan-based extremist group claimed responsibility for a series of coordinated attacks aimed at Afghan Shiites on Tuesday, in what many feared was an attempt to further destabilize Afghanistan by adding a new dimension of strife to a country that, though battered by a decade of war, has been free of sectarian conflict.â€

Florida Gov. Rick Scott's (R) approval rating is down to an astounding 26%. That's about where Richard Nixon's support stood when he resigned.

This doesn't surprise me.  When I was in Florida back in October I read both the Sarasota and Venice papers every morning.  At the time he was on some kind of vendetta against university professors and he was being treated as a joke, not just by the papers but by the people writing in as well. 

Marc Rubio was taking quite a pounding, too.  Seems he's been stretching the "son of Cuban refugees" line a bit thin.  His parents emigrated to the U.S. long before Castro ever came to Cuba let alone overthrew Batista.  His defense?  Well, he says his parents gave passing consideration to returning to Cuba in the sixties but felt they couldn't with Castro in power.  That, he says, makes them refugees. 

That, he says, makes them refugees.

So he's an anchor baby?

That would depend upon whthether or not his parents came to the States legally when they came.  I saw nothing that suggested they were illegals...only that they predated Castreo by a far spell.  I think one article noted that Castro was in Mexico and unheard of when they came.

  

December 08, 2011 5:30 PM
Thursday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's edition of quick hits:

* Another tragic day in Blacksburg: “A Virginia Tech police officer was fatally shot Thursday during a routine traffic stop on the Blacksburg campus and a second person was found slain in a nearby parking lot after the gunman fled, the university reports. The Associated Press, citing an unnamed law enforcement official, is reporting that the person found dead in the parking lot is the gunman who killed the officer.â€

December 09, 2011 5:40 PM
Friday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's slightly-later-than-usual edition of quick hits:

* Europe: “European leaders, meeting until the early hours of Friday, agreed to sign an intergovernmental treaty that would require them to enforce stricter fiscal and financial discipline in their future budgets. But efforts to get unanimity among the 27 members of the European Union, as desired by Germany, failed as Britain refused to go along.â€

[i]* Something has gone very wrong with Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) when she says nonsense like this, and seems to mean it: “Fiscal shenanigans such as permanent tax increases to pay for one-year temporary measures are precisely the problem that drove our nation into a $15 trillion debt crisis.â€

When the realization kicks in that you've made a mistake[i]: “Alabama's governor said Friday that he's looking to rewrite some of the state's illegal immigration law next year.â€

Good point.
Did two major donors yank political support?

I'm pretty sure Mercedes threatened to leave the state ~

Sooz
  

December 12, 2011 5:30 PM
Monday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's edition of quick hits:

* Big case: “The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether Arizona may impose tough anti-immigration measures. Among them, in a law enacted last year, is a requirement that the police there question people they stop about their immigration status.â€

December 13, 2011 5:30 PM
Tuesday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's edition of quick hits:

* Fed stands pat: “The Federal Reserve said Tuesday that it will take no new steps to boost economic growth this year, citing mounting evidence that the American economy is chugging slowly toward good health.â€

December 16, 2011 5:30 PM
Friday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's edition of quick hits:

* Overdue: “The SEC charged six former executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with securities fraud Friday, saying they misled the public about the companies' exposure to subprime loans during the onset of the mortgage meltdown.â€

I don't think I'll ever fully understand how the right thinks.

They don't.

December 19, 2011 5:30 PM
Monday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen

Today's edition of quick hits:

* North Korea's Kim Jong-il died Saturday of a heart attack. By most accounts, the loony/brutal communist dictator was 69 years old.

* Meet his successor: “With the abrupt death of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, the fate of his isolated, nuclear-armed regime has dropped into the hands of his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, who is such an unknown that the world did not even know for sure what he looked like until last year.â€