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Friday's Mini-Report, 3.6.15

Today's edition of quick hits.
Today's edition of quick hits:
 
* ISIS: "The Iraqi military and tribal fighters have pushed ISIS militants from the town of Al-Baghdadi, the U.S. military said Friday. The terror group had held three bridges in the town -- which is located near a U.S. air base -- since September."
 
* Speaking of ISIS: "News that Islamic State fighters had bulldozed and vandalized the ancient city of Nimrud in northern Iraq provoked widespread outrage on Friday, as archaeologists despaired that the militant extremist group was systematically destroying the priceless relics of a birthplace of civilization."
 
* Ferguson: "Two city employees in Ferguson, Missouri, have resigned after a Justice Department report highlighted racist emails sent by police and court employees, a spokesman for the city said Friday."
 
* And speaking of Missouri: "Republican lawmakers in Missouri are calling for the resignation of state party chair John Hancock, after allegations surfaced that he spread anti-Semitic rumors that contributed to the suicide of GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Schweich."
 
* CIA shakeup: "John O. Brennan, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, is planning to reassign thousands of undercover spies and intelligence analysts into new departments as part of a restructuring of the 67-year-old agency, a move he said would make it more successful against modern threats and crises."
 
* A vote will be necessary before the fall: "Unless Congress takes action, the U.S. will hit its debt limit on Mar. 16, but will begin taking 'extraordinary measures' on Mar. 13 to finance the government on a temporary basis, according to the U.S. Treasury."
 
* Strange bedfellows: "Tea Party Republicans contemplating a bid to oust Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) shouldn't count on Democrats to help them unseat the Speaker.... Democrats from across an ideological spectrum say they'd rather see Boehner remain atop the House than replace him with a more conservative Speaker who would almost certainly be less willing to reach across the aisle in search of compromise.
 
* He's right: "Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) this week joined the Congressional Black Caucus in complaining that none of the Republican leadership in Congress would be attending a commemoration of the 1965 march for civil rights in Selma, Alabama."
 
* Fareed Zakaria makes a very good point: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made predictions about Iran's nuclear capabilities for 25 years. Those predictions have always been wrong.
 
* It's disappointing just how often the Wall Street Journal editorial page publishes economic analyses that are genuinely, demonstrably ridiculous. The paper's readers really do deserve better than this.
 
* Sign of the times: "Apple Inc. will join the Dow Jones Industrial Average this month, a long-anticipated change that adds the world's most-valuable company to the 119-year-old blue-chip index.... Apple will replace telecommunications giant AT&T Inc."
 
* So cool: "NASA engineers said Friday they are 'exhilarated' by the final maneuver in a 7 1/2 year 'celestial dance' that put the spacecraft Dawn into orbit around the mini-planet Ceres 310 million miles from Earth."
 
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.