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Wednesday's Mini-Report, 11.26.14

Today's edition of quick hits.
Today's edition of quick hits:
 
* St. Louis: "Police in riot gear threatened to use tear gas Wednesday as they broke up a protest at City Hall in St. Louis. An officer at the scene shouted to demonstrators that the protest became unlawful when the demonstrators forced their way into the building. The officer threatened to use 'chemical munitions' and encouraged people with children to leave the scene."
 
* What was different about the Ferguson grand jury? Just about everything that matters.
 
* Stunning video: "Police shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice seconds after arriving at a Cleveland park last Saturday where the boy was waving around a toy 'airsoft' gun, surveillance video released Wednesday showed."
 
* Putin's latest game: "Russia pointed on Wednesday to rioting in Ferguson and protests across the United States as evidence that its detractors in Washington were hypocrites and in no position to lecture Moscow on human rights."
 
* A striking image: "Illustrator and former St. Louisan Bob Staake has created an image of the Gateway Arch in black and white for The New Yorker in its Dec. 8 issue with coverage on Ferguson."
 
* Great piece: "The death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, reveals many things about America. One of them that has not yet received adequate attention is that there is a strong case for a form of gun control that is much stricter than anything that's remotely plausible in the context of American politics.... A system in which legal police shootings of unarmed civilians are a common occurrence is a system that has some serious flaws."
 
* Sierra Leone: "The Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, which has been surging in recent weeks, may have reached its peak and could be on the verge of slowing down, Sierra Leone's information minister said Wednesday."
 
* ISIS: "The United States is shifting more attack and surveillance aircraft from Afghanistan to the air war against the Islamic State, deepening American involvement in the conflict and raising new challenges."
 
* As expected: "The Obama administration on Wednesday announced a long-delayed environmental regulation to curb emissions of ozone, a smog-causing pollutant linked to asthma, heart disease and premature death."
 
* I sometimes forget there are still some people who smoke: "Fewer Americans are smoking, with the smoking rate at its lowest point in 50 years, federal health experts reported Wednesday. Just under 18 percent of Americans are smokers, down from 21 percent in 2005, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports."
 
* While keeping up the tradition of presidential pardons for Thanksgiving turkeys, President Obama said this afternoon, "I know some will call this amnesty." Well played.
 
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.