May 9, 2011: Monday’s Mini-Report, By Steve Benen

May 9, 2011: Monday’s Mini-Report, by Steve Benen
(From Political Animal, a blog at Washington Monthly; click on the link for the original article, with hypertext)

Today’s edition of quick hits:

* This isn’t going to help: “Stung by criticism at home and in the United States following a U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden in a city north of the capital, Pakistan’s intelligence service may have leaked the name of the CIA station chief in retaliation, U.S. officials said Monday.”

* On a related note, had the mission to kill bin Laden gone awry, was the Obama administration risking a war with Pakistan? The risk was quite real. [And remember, they've got nukes.]

* Syria: “A military crackdown on Syria’s seven-week uprising escalated Sunday, with reinforcements sent to two cities, more forces deployed in a southern town, and nearly all communications severed to besieged locales, activists and human rights groups said. Fourteen people were killed in the city of Homs, they said, and hundreds were arrested.” [But NATO struck Libya because they were attacking their own people ...]

* Home videos: “The Obama administration on Saturday released five videos recovered from Osama bin Laden’s hide-out in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that an intelligence official said showed the Qaeda founder threatening the United States, condemning capitalism, and at some points flubbing his lines and missing a cue. In the most candid scenes, Bin Laden can be seen watching news coverage of himself on television.”

* Adam Serwer has an extremely compelling piece explaining why bin Laden’s killing was entirely legal.

* Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) was asked whether it’s fair for highly profitable oil companies to receive taxpayer subsidies. He replied, “Fair is a relative word.”

* Good: “The Texas high-school teacher who allegedly told a Muslim girl in his ninth-grade algebra class that ‘I bet that you’re grieving’ over the death of Osama bin Laden will not be returning to work, a school spokesperson tells TPM.”

* Ridiculous: “Yesterday, the Texas Legislature passed legislation requiring doctors to perform a sonogram at least 24 hours before an abortion and to describe what the sonogram shows. Only in cases of rape, incest, or fetal abnormality is a woman allowed to bypass that requirement.” [Part of a massive ongoing effort to curtail women's reproductive rights]

* Bill O’Reilly told Barack Obama in September 2008, two months before the presidential election: “You’re not gonna invade Pakistan, Senator, if you’re president. You’re not gonna send ground troops in there. You know it.”

* And Donald Trump told Fox News this morning, “I am the least racist person there is.” To prove it, Trump pointed to an African-American who won his reality television show a couple of years ago. “So I am the least racist person,” he added.