Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Huge: “The European Central bank took its most ambitious step yet toward easing the euro zone crisis, assuming sweeping new powers to throw its unlimited financial clout behind an effort to protect Spain and Italy from financial collapse.”
* Obama is clearly the least-effective anti-capitalist radical ever: “The stock market leaped to its highest level in more than four years Thursday as investors lauded a new bond-buying program in Europe aimed at containing the region’s debt crisis. Signs of improvement in the U.S. labor market also boosted stocks.”
* Was Secretary of State Hillary Clinton able to watch her husband’s Democratic convention speech last night? It turns out, she was in Timor-Leste, but watched it online.
* On a related note, this seems pretty impressive: “More people watched former President Bill Clinton’s speech to the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night than tuned in to see the N.F.L. season opener.”
* An intriguing story, but there’s no real evidence the returns were actually stolen: “The Secret Service is investigating the reported theft of copies of Mitt Romney’s tax returns, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.”
* Immigration: “A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Arizona authorities can enforce the most contentious section of the state’s immigration law, which critics have dubbed the ‘show me your papers’ provision.”
* Lobbyists for the banking industry are poised to launch a super PAC to elect candidates who will, in turn, weaken new safeguards and layers of accountability. The Romney-Ryan ticket has already vowed to turn back the clock on Wall Street regulations. * The Republican National Committee is using an RNC staffer to pretend to be a disaffected Obama supporter. Maybe they couldn’t find a real one? * It should be a memorable moment: “Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will deliver the pledge of allegiance at the Democratic National Convention Thursday, her spokeswoman confirmed.” Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
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