The Daily Muck

Rudy Giuliani, businessman of mystery. The presidential candidate is still closely connected to his firm Giuliani Partners, while the identities of the firm’s clients remain a secret. The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) takes a peek at one known client –the nation of Qatar– which has a questionable record in counter-terrorism efforts. (WSJ)

Note to the Homeland Security Department (actually, this one kind of goes for everyone): blackface costumes should be avoided. Please don’t wear them to office parties. If you are an administrator and you see an employee doing so, please speak to them. Please do not award them with the “Most Original Costume” award. (NY Times, Think Progress)

Just days after Senator Schumer (D-NY) equivocated on proposed legislation to raise taxes on hedge fund titans and firms, the DSCC received a $28,500 gift from a hedge fund manager who earned $1.7 billion last year. Schumer is now “off the fence” and championing keeping taxes low for his wealthy supporters. (Washington Post)

Omar Khadr, who will be arraigned on Thursday, has the distinction of having the first military commission hearing since a military appeals court found they had the right to assign the label “unlawful enemy combatants” to detainees. Khadr, a Canadian citizen who was 15 when he sent to Guantanamo, is probably also the youngest “enemy combatant” presently detained. (Washington Note)

Here’s one way to get your questionable travel plans (funded, of course, by the firms your agency overseas) approved by ethics officers: just bring the ethics guys with you. Ethics experts are shocked that the Consumer Product Safety Commissioner went on an industry-financed trip to China, but they were more shocked that the agency’s ethics official went on the trip as well. (Washington Post)

California has now revealed the list of donors to a controversial initiative that would have changed the assignment of electoral votes to presidential candidates. The result: no single Republican candidate was behind the initiative, though some of their biggest fundraisers were. (LA Times)

The inspector general of the Department of Education is looking into Neil Bush’s education company, Ignite Learning. School districts in Texas, Nevada, and Florida have spent more than $1 million in federal money on products from Ignite Learning, but critics say Bush’s products, including the “Adopt a Cow” program, don’t meet the standards of the No Child Left Behind Act. Of course the only important standard is that “childrens do learn.” (NY Times)

With the nation’s terrorist watch list topping out at more than 755,000 names, innocent Americans, including toddlers and the elderly, have become ensnared in a bureaucratic web that delays and complicates their travel. More than 15,000 citizens are fighting back by appealing to the government to have their names removed, but massive backlogs have prevented redress. (USA Today)

At midnight in Denver, with 70,000 of the 90,000 votes counted, a ballot initiative calling for making marijuana offenses the lowest priority of the Denver Police, was winning 55.5% to 45.5%. At that moment, the Denver Clerk and Recorder summoned the Swat Team to finish the counting. (TalkLeft)