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Saturday, June 4, 2011
The Morning Scoop - Will Jobs Numbers Sink Obama in 2012?
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May's jobs data were pretty dismal—just 54,000 private-sector jobs gained, and the unemployment rate up a tick to 9.1 percent. All signs point toward a very slow recovery on the jobs front, and so the conventional wisdom arbiters in Washington right now are asking: Can President Obama be reelected if the unemployment rate is still 9 percent? But The Daily Beast's Michael Tomasky says the GOP candidates—and Nixon's example—are giving Obama cause for hope. Just as the Democrats seemed to have lost their moorings in 1972, so it may be that in 2012 Obama will benefit from a heavy dose of Republican Crazy.
For the first time in its Libya intervention, British and French helicopters have fired on Muammar Gaddafi's troops. NATO commander Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard said the helicopters allowed the alliance to strike troops attempting to hide in populated areas, which they wouldn't have been able to do with the jets they'd been using until now. Bouchard said the strike, which took out installations in Brega and military forces elsewhere in Libya, "demonstrates the unique capabilities brought to bear by attack helicopters. "The helicopter strikes come a day after rebels took control of three towns and broke the siege on a fourth.
Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh has retaliated for the shelling of his palace that left him and several officials injured. Government forces shelled the homes of the leaders of the tribal federation currently fighting against him, and street fighting spread to more areas of the capital, prompting thousands to flee. Saleh is reportedly in good health following the attack, but he hasn't been seen in public since, and the speakers of both houses of parliament and the deputy prime minister were flown to Saudi Arabia for treatment.
Melting snow from the Rocky Mountains combined with heavy spring rains have swelled the Missouri River to dangerously high levels, prompting North and South Dakota residents to prepare for flooding. The Army Corps of Engineers has already opened floodgates at six dams and has been releasing reservoir water into the river in an attempt to make room for new snowmelt, but it seems to be insufficient. More rain is expected later this week. "It's the perfect storm, but in the worst sense," said a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Aberdeen, South Dakota. As many as 12,000 people have been forced to evacuate the North Dakota city of Minot, and another 1,000 homes in Bismarck are under voluntary evacuations.
One of Pakistan's most senior militants may have been killed in a U.S. drone strike in South Waziristan. Locals say Ilyas Kashmiri was among nine people killed in a strike, but his death hasn't been confirmed by officials. Kashmiri is a key al Qaeda commander believed to be responsible for Mumbai-style attacks on military targets in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. He is believed to be behind the attack on the Mehran naval airbase in Karachi last month, in which six militants held off Pakistan's special forces for 15 hours. Kashmiri has been declared dead before—in September 2009, Pakistani intelligence said he had been killed in a drone strike in North Waziristan.
The accused murderess may not testify, but jurors got to hear from her nevertheless—through eerie videotaped jailhouse conversations that reveal Anthony's true moods.
The Return of Back-Alley Abortions by Michelle Goldberg In states across the country, women are being arrested for the crime of ending their own pregnancies—though they have a constitutional right to do so in a doctor's office. Michelle Goldberg on a worrisome new trend.
June 4: The Week in Viral Videos by The Daily Beast Video From Anthony Weiner's Weinergate to Lindsay Lohan's art-house flick and Sarah Palin's cross-country road trip, watch the buzziest videos of the week.
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