You're Under Arrest: Turns out the people nabbed by police for driving around upper Northwest with expired license plates weren't the only ones caught in the District's law that allowed the practice. More than 3,400 drivers were arrested in the last two years for the same thing, with 256 people actually locked up; they just don't appear to have been able to get in touch with Virginia Sen. James Webb to get him to complain about it, like the folks in the recent cases. -2

Occupy The Highway: Camping in Zuccotti Park apparently isn't hardcore enough for some Occupy Wall Street protesters—so they've decided to walk from New York to D.C. to join the Occupy encampment in McPherson Square, in time for the end of the deliberations of the congressional debt supercommittee. They'll stop along the way in places like Elizabeth, N.J., and Laurel, Md. With Thanksgiving traffic soon approaching, walking may actually be a faster way to get between the two cities than taking Megabus. +2

You Don't Have Mail: Get those holiday packages mailed early this year if you want to send them from the post office at 14th and T streets NW. That location will close on Dec. 31, according to D.C. Councilmember Jim Graham. The good news: There's another at 19th and Florida, not too far away, and there's also email. -1

Stop Or I'll Shoot: The night shift can be boring for uniformed Secret Service agents assigned to protect diplomatic missions; except when Iranian agents are allegedly plotting to blow up Saudi officials at Cafe Milano, after all, there's not much intrigue. One agent, apparently, decided to alleviate the dreariness early this morning with a little gunfire. The agent's weapon discharged while he was sitting in his cruiser in the 2600 block of Tunlaw Road NW, near the Russian consulate. 22 years ago, that would have caused a major Cold War incident. Today, it's just a brief in a snarky news roundup. What a country! -1

Yesterday's Needle rating: 33 Today's score: -2 Today's Needle rating: 31

In custody after his mile
But so far, no charges on file
He made Secret Service
A little bit nervous
By leaving his clothes in a pile

• Yesterday afternoon, City Desk posted the latest WaPo article about the Metro crash, which basically announced that circuits on four of the five lines have failed to detect the presence of trains.  The 6 pm newscasts featured commentary from a variety of concerned commuters and so to quell their concerns, Metro GM John Catoe and Councilman Jim Graham held a press conference announcing that the Post got the story wrong.  The system is safe, says Catoe, and the article is a gross misstatement of facts.  Watch WUSA's interview with Catoe – he could be a dreidel with the way he's spinning this new information.

Swine flu, social networks, and the Secret Service after the jump.  Plus, a new alternative to saving the Nats!

• Swine flu isn't going anywhere soon.  Yet another group of local students from the District and Maryland are quarantined in Beijing after testing positive for H1N1.  Although it sucks that their trip is on hiatus, at least they have access to their Facebook accounts.
• Speaking of social networks, Facebook and Twitter are now too accessible to the general public, so Congress had to make its own. 3121, named after the extension of the Capitol Hill switchboard, will premiere in September and hopes to make communication among staffers more efficient.  Really, it's just a more localized version of any other site, so that you can stalk the hottie in Rep. Whatever's office and make awkward eye contact with your new "friends."
• President Obama granted Dick Cheney's request for a six-month extension of his Secret Service protection.  Apparently he has been concerned with his security and privacy in recent years, and plans on asking for another extension when this one expires.  Because when the federal government is hemorrhaging money, cashing in on a former Vice President's security detail is really an investment in the future.
• And finally, the Nationals might seem like a better team if they had better media coverage.  And who better to help them with their image than Ari Fleisher of Ari Fleisher Sports Communications!  Yep, Bush 2's first press secretary has launched a business to train athletes and teams on how to deal with the media.  He's currently busy promoting the Olympics but maybe he can help our fledgling batters in the future.

Who cares that the team is slumping? The few seconds it takes for the multi-chambered air rifle to fire a couple dozen shirts into the stratosphere are worth a trip to the Verizon Center.

Before encountering the Hoyas' toy, I don't think I'd heard the phrase "Gatling Gun" since high school history class. (I'm a product of Fairfax County schools, where civil war minutiae gets treated like breaking local news. )

But, as any military buff would be aware but I hadn't a clue, the Gatling Gun never went away as an implement of destruction.

And now, in fact, it's really in vogue.

Apparently, Barack Obama's escorts carry a Gatling Gun with them, just in case.

Here's footage of the presidential firepower in action.

Prepare to be scared. No, really.

It's now past 11 pm on Inauguration Night, at which point this series dramatically lowers its requirements for profile subjects.

First person to come in over the lower bar is one Leonard Wong. Now, just for context, previous profile subjects in this series have exchanged locally coded glances with the future president, have shed new light on his quality as a person, or had the future president's father attend one of his memorable life events.

As for Leonard Wong, well, he only wishes he had such a strong nexus.

Here's what he's actually got. Leonard Wong has a friend who lives in Hawaii. When Obama went to vacation in Hawaii over the holidays, Leonard Wong's friend ventured out to catch a glimpse of the prez-elect and Michelle. The friend of Leonard Wong staked out a position by a fitness club named Semper Fit, right by the Marine Corps Base Hawaii Kaneohe Bay.

Now for Leonard Wong's connection to Obama: While this friend was waiting to see the soon-to-be first couple, he stood in a pose in which he crossed his arms in front of him. At that point, a Secret Service agent came and told the friend of Leonard Wong that he couldn't stand there with his arms crossed. The friend called Leonard Wong and told him about the incident.

Reporting by Amanda Hess, writing by Erik Wemple

"They'll be out around the route," Verheyden-Hilliard says of the legal observers. "They'll be out there monitoring the police action and the Secret Service action." She couldn't say how many observers will be volunteering for the inauguration detail. The plans are still be worked out.

But she's already noticed a little something about the inauguration windup. It isn't all hope. "I think it's very distressing that the Secret Service is making Washington so inhospitable for people." By people she means us and the out-of-towners who are coming because the event means so much to them. Instead, they get road closures, and bridge closings, and fortified security zones. We get gridlock.

"At the same time, the Secret Service seems to be bending over backwards to help the corporate law firms and lobbyists that have all the office buildings that line Pennsylvania Avenue to make sure their caterers and Hors d'œuvres get in," the lawyer notes.

I asked her about the D.C. Police. The department has a bad history handling massive crowds: "It's the usual situation when they have huge numbers of police working many hours a day, that doesn't always go that well."

Verheyden-Hilliard knows what she's talking about. She also has been battling the checkpoint issue.

Here's the gpa01-09inaugsecplans1, plus map.