The Commentariat -- November 4

"Oligarchy, American Style." Paul Krugman: "we have a society in which money is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few people. This threatens to make us a democracy in name only.... The usual suspects have rolled out some familiar arguments: the data are flawed (they aren’t); the rich are an ever-changing group (not so); and so on. The most popular argument right now seems, however, to be the claim that we may not be a middle-class society, but we’re still an upper-middle-class society, in which a broad class of highly educated workers, who have the skills to compete in the modern world, is doing very well. It’s a nice story.... But it’s not true."> ...

... Cheer Up! Jason DeParle, et al., of the New York Times: "On Monday..., the Census Bureau releases a long-promised alternate measure meant to do a better job of counting the resources the needy have and the bills they have to pay. Similar measures, quietly published in the past, suggest among other things that safety-net programs have played a large and mostly overlooked role in restraining hardship: as much as half of the reported rise in poverty since 2006 disappears."

Kevin Roose of the New York Times: "... customers are seeking out alternatives [to big banks] like community banks and credit unions. Without the obligations to generate huge returns for public shareholders, these smaller banks often can charge lower fees and pay higher interest rates than their bigger competitors. More than 650,000 people have joined credit unions since Sept. 29 — the day Bank of America announced its debit card fee — and have brought in an estimated $4.5 billion in new deposits...." ...

... Tomorrow, Guy Fawkes Day, is Bank Transfer Day. Jeff Gelles of the Philadelphia Inquirer: "Occupy Wall Street activists and their allies have been touting Saturday as 'Bank Transfer Day.' Credit unions say they're already seeing results, thanks to the firestorm over Bank of America's $5 debit-card fee: Since Sept. 29, when BofA announced plans for the new fee -- since reversed -- credit unions have gained an estimated 650,000 members and $4.5 billion in new deposits." Andrew Yarrow of the Baltimore Sun has more. AND here's the Bank Transfer Day Facebook page.

New York Times Editors: "... when President Obama’s plan to spend $60 billion on infrastructure repairs came up for a vote in the Senate, not a single Republican agreed to break the party’s filibuster. That’s because the bill would pay for itself with a 0.7 percent surtax on people making more than $1 million. That would affect about 345,000 taxpayers..., adding an average of $13,457 to their annual tax bills. Protecting that elite group — and hewing to their rigid antitax vows — was more important to Senate Republicans than the thousands of construction jobs the bill would have helped create, or the millions of people who would have used the rebuilt roads, bridges and airports." ...

... Steve Benen: but you wouldn't know the Republicans killed the infrastructure jobs bill if you got your news from "bipartisan" CNN & recently-anointed "left-wing" Politico. So the GOP wins another round in the game of hide-the-elephant. ...

... Jay Newton-Small of Time: "In case you haven’t heard, the government is at risk of shutting down in two weeks. On Nov. 18 the federal government risks running out of funding yet again unless Congress can pass a budget for fiscal year 2012." ...

MEANWHILE, the Deficit Reduction Super-Duper Committee is hard at work. Brian Beutler of TPM has the Chart of the Day: "Recently committee Republicans and Democrats presented each other with competing plans — some details of which were leaked to the press. Aides note that the Dem plan contained about $300 billion in expansionary measures, while the GOP plan contained… well, see for yourself":

     ... Beutler adds, "The GOP plan contained about $2.2 trillion in cuts — well over the $1.2 trillion minimum required of the Super Committee by the debt limit law. That left the Republicans ample room to include many kinds of near-term growth measures, but they picked none." Super.

** Your History Lesson for the Day. Charles Pierce of Esquire: How a Gilded Age Supreme Court reporter made Citizens United a person. CW: fascinating. ...

... Mitt Romney weighs in (via the DNC):

Azam Ahmed & Ben Protess of the New York Times: "Months before MF Global teetered on the brink, federal regulators were seeking to rein in the types of risky trades that contributed to the firm’s collapse. But they faced opposition from ... Jon S. Corzine, the head of the then little-known brokerage firm. As a former United States senator and a former governor of New Jersey, as well as the leader of Goldman Sachs in the 1990s, Mr. Corzine carried significant weight in the worlds of Washington and Wall Street. While other financial firms employed teams of lobbyists to fight the new regulation, MF Global’s chief executive in meetings over the last year personally pressed regulators to halt their plans."

As Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) prepares to pound AG Eric Holder on the ATF "gun-walking" scandal, he might bear in mind that newly-released documents show that Bush AG Mike Mukasey was briefed on the gun-walking tactic back in 2007. Pete Yost of the AP reports.

Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times: "The official newspaper of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Boston has apologized for a column that said that homosexuality is caused by Satan. The column’s author, Daniel Avila, is a lawyer and policy adviser at the Catholic bishops’ conference in Washington, where he works in the office that opposes the spread of same-sex marriage." CW: In a follow-up column, Avila, a defense attorney, will say the devil made him do it. Then he will go right back to work lobbying Congress against teh gays.

If you must read David Brooks today, you must also read the comments. Do not let that mendacious gasbag snooker you.

Right Wing World

Letters from Baltimore Half-way House. M. J. Lee of Politico: "Jack Abramoff, the infamous K Street ex-lobbyist, says in an upcoming '60 Minutes' interview that he had 100 congressmen in his pocket and reveals his best weapon for gaining influence was to promise a high-paying job to the lawmakers’ top staffers.

I've been as consistent as human beings can be. -- Mitt Romney ...

... Really? Peter Wallsten & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "Romney made assurances to activists for [abortion rights,] gay rights and the environment, according to people familiar with the discussions, both as a candidate for governor and then in the early days of his term. The encounters with liberal advocates offer some revealing insights into the ever-evolving ideology of Romney, who as a presidential candidate now espouses the hard-line opposition to abortion that he seemed to disparage less than a decade ago."

Tim Egan: "Cain is not the problem. It’s his party. Cain gets away with saying that we should have a moat along the Mexican border filled with alligators because there is no reality cop on the Republican beat."

Ken Vogel, et al., of Politico have more details on one of the incidents in which GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain allegedly made "unwanted sexual advances" to a female employee at a restaurant. ...

... Jim Rutenberg & Jeff Zeleny of the New York Times: "One of the women who accused the Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain of sexual harassment while working for him at the National Restaurant Association in the late 1990s complained that the workplace turned hostile after she alleged that he made advances toward her during a work-related outing.... The advances were said to have taken place during a festive night in which Mr. Cain and several younger staff members drank until late in the evening, and his flirty banter with the woman crossed over into propositions that she leave with him...." ...

... Michael Shear of the New York Times: after his campaign manager backed off charges that Rick Perry's campaign had leaked the sexual harassment settlement to Politico, Cain went on Sean Hannity's radio show & reignited the claim. He blamed other people for other stuff, too. CW: he is so finished, thank goodness for the nation.

... Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: Mark Block, Cain's campaign manager, faces tough questions on two fronts: (1) his handling of the sexual harassment revelations, & (2) his financing of Cain's campaign in its infancy. ...

... AND finally, we know where Cain got the idea for his 999 plan: here's part of a Politico headline on the Cain harassment matter: "Settlement dated 9/99."

Via Buzzfeed.Pardon My Pettiness. Is it odd, or what, that Rick Perry signs his name using block print letters instead of cursive? And that he uses a combination of upper- and lower-case letters following the initial letters? See the other presidential candidates' signatures here.

News Ledes

AP: "Greece's prime minister survived a confidence vote early Saturday, calming a revolt in his Socialist party with an emotional pledge to step aside if need be and seek a cross-party government lasting four months to safeguard Europe's new debt agreement. George Papandreou won the critical confidence motion with a vote of 153-145 after a week of drama in Athens that horrified its European partners, spooked global markets and overshadowed the Group of 20 summit...."

Bloomberg News: "MF Global Holdings Inc., the bankrupt futures brokerage, has located $658.8 million in customer funds in a custodial account at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), according to two people with knowledge of the matter." ...

     ... Update: Never Mind. New York Times: "The missing customer money at MF Global is still missing."

Guardian: "A second Iraq war veteran has suffered serious injuries after clashes between police and Occupy movement protesters in Oakland. Kayvan Sabehgi, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, is in intensive care with a lacerated spleen. He says he was beaten by police close to the Occupy Oakland camp, but despite suffering agonising pain, did not reach hospital until 18 hours later." ...

... San Francisco Chronicle: "Oakland Mayor Jean Quan says the Occupy Oakland protesters camped outside City Hall need to move to a 'less disruptive' location if they can't learn to behave themselves." ...

... Oakland Tribune: "Clergy members and public safety advocates appealed to Occupy Oakland organizers Thursday to reopen talks with City Hall in light of the city's overworked, understaffed Police Department and the need for extra police vigilance caused by the movement's lack of communication."

New York Times: "A journalist at the tabloid The Sun was arrested Friday on suspicion of making illegal payments to police officers, a sign that a scandal has spread beyond The News of the World to other papers in Rupert Murdoch’s British media empire." Guardian story here.

Presidents Obama & Sarkozy participated in a ceremony honoring the alliance between the U.S & France today. ABC News story here.

President Obama held a press conference this morning. AP story here.

Bloomberg News: "The jobless rate unexpectedly fell in October while employers added fewer jobs than forecast, illustrating the 'frustratingly slow' progress cited by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke this week. The unemployment rate fell to a six-month low of 9 percent from 9.1 percent, even as the labor force expanded. The 80,000 increase in payrolls followed gains in the prior two months that were revised up by 102,000...."

New York Times: "Jon S. Corzine has resigned from his posts at the embattled brokerage MF Global, the company announced on Friday. Mr. Corzine, the firm’s chairman and chief executive, will not seek severance payments from MF Global, which filed for bankruptcy on Monday, according to the company’s statement."

AP: "Republicans in the Senate have killed legislation sponsored by President Barack Obama to spend $60 billion on building and repairing roads, rail lines and other infrastructure to help kick-start the sluggish economy. The 51-49 vote fell well short of the 60 votes required under Senate procedures to start work on the bill. The infrastructure measure is the third in a string of Senate defeats for Obama's stimulus-style jobs agenda, which would be financed by a tax surcharge on the very wealthy."

New York Times: "Prime Minister George A. Papandreou faces a deeply uncertain confidence vote on Friday, a day after calling off a referendum on Greece’s new debt deal with the euro zone. The decision to abandon the referendum eased a major rupture in relations with Europe and, after a tumultuous day of political gamesmanship, won for the prime minister a measure of support from his opposition."

AP: "President Barack Obama has sent a letter to Bosnian leaders urging them not to support the Palestinian bid for statehood at the U.N. Security Council."

AP: "Jurors in the involuntary manslaughter case of Michael Jackson's doctor begin deliberations Friday after a six-week trial that painted Conrad Murray as either an inept and opportunistic physician or a naive outsider granted access to the pop superstar's inner realm."

The Commentariat -- November 3

Lovely Occupy Story. Jose DelReal of the Harvard Crimson: "Nearly 70 Harvard student protesters walked out of Economics 10 on Wednesday afternoon, expressing dissatisfaction with what they perceive to be an overly conservative bias in the course. The walkout was meant to be a show of support for the 'Occupy' movement’s principal criticism that conservative economic policies have increased income inequality in the United States.... Economics 10—more commonly referred to as 'Ec 10' — is taught by professor N. Gregory Mankiw, and has the highest enrollment of any course at the College, boasting over 700 enrollees.... Mankiw served as the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the second Bush Administration and is currently an adviser to former Mass. Governor Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. Mankiw declined to comment for this article." CW: Mankiw did deign to talk to NPR, but as of noon ET, NPR has held back the audio. ...

     ... Update: here's the NPR segment. Thanks to a commenter for letting me know it was up:

     ... Here's Mankiw's blogpost on the subject. ...

     ... Paul Krugman presponded to Mankiw yesterday, accusing the Mankiw-types of suffering from Krugman Derangement Syndrome: "OK, I see that some people are doubling down on the claim that rising inequality is all about education — when what the CBO report drives home is that this is all wrong, the big increase has come from gains at the very top." ...

     ... AND Krugman on the "income mobility" lie: "... many people who have incomes greater than $1 million one year fall out of the category the next year — but that’s typically because their income fell from, say, 1.05 million to 0.95 million, not because they went back to being middle class. And the new millionaires are typically people who were making just shy of a million the year before, not Horatio Alger stories. And if you’d been following this subject you would know that this fallacy has been well understood for decades." CW: note also that these Horatio Alger's who got a little boost in income did not get that boost because they got their MBAs that year.

... AND Speaking of Dubya, Another Nice Occupy Story. Austin Wright of Politico: "George W. Bush visited Goldman Sachs headquarters in New York City on Wednesday.... His arrival brought some more visitors: Occupy Wall Street protesters circled the building in Lower Manhattan because they heard the former president was inside.... The protesters were chanting 'Arrest George Bush.' ... There was no indication the protesters had any opportunity to confront the former president before he departed."

Rev. Barry Lynn writes a Washington Post "On Faith" post on the House of Representive's taking time out of its busy schedule to remind President Obama & other heathens that "In God We Trust" is our national motto: "President Theodore Roosevelt ... opposed putting 'In God We Trust' on coins, remarking, 'To put such a motto on coins or to use it in any kindred manner, not only does no good but does positive harm, and is in effect irreverence, which comes dangerously close to sacrilege.' Using religious resolutions for displays of false piety, to fire a salvo at political opponents or to foster another 'culture war' doesn’t come 'dangerously close' to sacrilege. It is sacrilege."

Nate Silver, in his usual thorough fashion, runs a lot of numbers to try to preduct the outcome of the 2012 presidential election: "The Bottom Line: ... With Perry having slumped in the polls ... and Romney the more likely nominee, the odds tilt slightly toward Obama joining the list of one-termers. It is early, and almost no matter what, the election will be a losable one for Republicans. But Obama’s position is tenuous enough that it might not be a winnable one for him.

Susanne Craig, et al., of the New York Times: "The details that have emerged about MF Global’s final 72 hours ... illustrate that three years after the financial crisis, Wall Street executives are still fighting regulators’ demands. It also shows that even when the watchdogs sound the alarm, it is not necessarily enough to save a firm."

The News Has a Familiar Ring. William Rashbaum, et al., of the New York Times: "Current and former prosecutors who have handled corruption cases, as well as some current and former Internal Affairs supervisors and investigators ... [say a] spate of unrelated corruption prosecutions [of NYPD officiers], and what some see as the Internal Affairs Bureau’s spotty record of uncovering major cases involving crooked officers, raise questions about the department’s ability to police itself....Several of them blamed a lack of effective outside oversight of the department’s anticorruption program, characterizing the monitoring as weak at best in recent years, with monitors having neither the political will to press the department nor support from City Hall [i.e., Baron von Bloomberg]. They also cited low starting salaries for new officers, poor morale, recruits drawn from a smaller pool of qualified candidates and a hidebound Internal Affairs Bureau bureaucracy." ...

... Daniel Rosen of the New York Observer has more on the NYPD, including this info bit of info, which I didn't know, about Sergeant Pepper-Spray: "After Ron Kuby, an attorney for one of the protesters, demanded Mr. Bologna’s arrest, he was instead docked 10 vacation days and given a cozy reassignment to Staten Island, where he lives."

Right Wing World

Via the Daily Beast.Daniel Stone of the Daily Beast: "Tea Party hero & Majority Leader Eric Cantor public derided a high-speed rail project for Nevada at the same time he asked for $3 billion for one in Virginia. At the same time Cantor was "bashing" Hud, "he owned as much as $50,000 in preferred stock in a real-estate company that receives federal housing assistance from the department." As the government showdown over debt continues—the so-called congressional supercommittee negotiating cuts has been floundering for weeks — Newsweek found about five dozen of the most fiscally conservative Republicans, from Tea Party freshmen like Allen West to anti-spending presidential candidates like Rick Perry and Ron Paul, trying to gobble up the very largesse they publicly disown, in the time-honored, budget-busting tradition of bringing home the bacon for local constituents. The stack of spending-request letters between these GOP members and federal agencies stands more than a foot tall, and disheartens some of the activists who sent Republicans to Washington in the last election." 

Who Is Responsible for the Cain Harassment Leak? Michael Shear of the New York Times: A pro-Cain PAC blames the "radical left." Cain blamed it on Rick Perry. The Perry camp blamed it on Mitt Romney. The Washington Times has a story blaming it on associates of Rahm Emanuel. CW: I definitely see the hand of the Chicago mob in this story. ...

... "Blame It on Cain" -- Elvis Costello:

... Evan McMorris-Santoro of TPM: Cain says the allegations against him are racist but he can't prove it. "... one of the things that irks the right the very most is when they perceive the left crying racist with no evidence." Here's Cain on Fox "News"' "Special Report":

Richard Miniter in Forbes: Herman Cain fingers Curt Anderson, an ex-staffer on Cain's unsuccessful 2004 Senate bid whom Rick Perry's campaign recently hired as a consultant, for leaking the sexual harassment stories to Politico. Anderson & a spokesman for the Perry campaign both deny Cain's allegations. ...

... Jerry Bohnen of Oklahoma radio station K-TOK: "Oklahoma political consultant Chris Wilson says if the woman behind the reported sexual harassment complaint against GOP Presidential hopeful Herman Cain is allowed to speak publicly, it'll be the end of Cain's run for the White House. ...

... Jonathan Martin of Politico: "In an interview with POLITICO, Wilson said he was present for the episode and that it took place in the late '90s. Wilson declined to say specifically what Cain said or did to the woman, but that the CEO's actions made other individuals at the table uneasy. 'It was very uncomfortable,' said the pollster, recalling that other individuals present asked Cain to stop." ...

... Martin, again: Steve Deace, a syndicated conservative radio host who works out of Des Moines, Iowa, told Politico that "Cain said 'awkward' and 'inappropriate' things to the [female] staff at his station." CW: as nearly as I can tell, this was a recent incident. ...

... Jonathan Easley of The Hill: Joel Bennett, "the lawyer for one of the women who accused Herman Cain of sexual harassment, said his client might get a chance to speak publicly about the allegations because [Herman Cain] violated the confidentiality agreement between the two." ...

     ... Aargh! I Can't Keep Up! Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "Joel P. Bennett, the lawyer for one of the women who has made accusations against Mr. Cain, said that his client had decided not to go public or to make a public statement herself in an effort to shield herself from the media frenzy swirling around the situation." ...

     ... Update. Jonathan Martin of Politico: "The attorney for one of the women accusing Herman Cain of sexual harassment is asking the National Restaurant Association permission to allow her to issue a public statement about her allegations." ...

          ... Update on the Update of the Update: "The National Restaurant Association issued a statement Thursday afternoon indicating that they'd decide tomorrow on whether to let one of the women who accused Herman Cain of sexual harassment to issue a statement."

     ... Update: Martin: "... one of the women who accused Herman Cain of sexual harassment at the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s received a payout of about $45,000 as part of her settlement — significantly more than the two or three months’ salary Cain initially recalled the woman obtained.The woman who received the approximately $45,000 is the staffer who Cain has acknowledged formally lodged a complaint about his behavior.... According to The New York Times, the second woman received $35,000 — a year’s pay. Cain ... has not acknowledged that there is more than one settlement."

... Dana Milbank: Cain cracks up. ...

... Ashley Southall of the New York Times: "Reacting to new harassment allegations against Herman Cain on Wednesday, some conservative bloggers began tempering their defense of the embattled Republican presidential candidate."

The crowd that was elected the last time not only came here to do nothing, they also came to put down the president. And the way to put him down is not to give him any kind of opportunity to be successful. Republicans made a decision right after the election—don’t give Obama any victories. The heck with putting people to work, because we can score points. -- Ray LaHood

Eleanor Clift of the Daily Beast: "Democrats aren’t alone anymore in sounding the alarm about the paralysis gripping Congress these days. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former congressman and the lone Republican in the Cabinet, says he believes his own party has put defeating President Obama ahead of creating jobs in America."

Teachers Are Incompetent AND Overpaid! Kayla Webley of Time: "... conservative thinkers at the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation< issued a paper on Tuesday arguing not only that teachers are overpaid, but when you factor in pensions, health care and other benefits, that total compensation for teachers is 52% higher than fair market value...." ...

... "You Get the Teachers You Pay For." Jonathan Chait of New York Magazine: "The paper doesn’t really show that we pay teachers enough. It shows that the skill level of the teaching workforce is, on average, commensurate with the pay level. Pay teachers badly, and you’ll get a lot of bad teachers.... If we paid teachers more, we’d get better teachers."

News Ledes

New York Times: "President Obama plunged Thursday into the fast-moving European debt crisis, arriving [in Cannes, France] to exhort European leaders to get their financial house in order. But while the president hustled from meeting to meeting with world leaders, he was in many ways thrust into the rare position of bystander, as the unfolding drama over whether the Greek government would fall (it did not) and whether Greece would back the comprehensive accord to protect the euro reached last week (it will, at least for now) dominated conversations...."

The Atlantic: "Protesters occupied Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's office on Thursday, a notably partisan move that aligns the protesters more closely with congressional Democrats who say McConnell is a key roadblock to action on economic legislation President Obama has proposed."

Politico: "Prosecutors have filed criminal charges against precious metal dealer Goldline International - endorsed by conservative celebrities Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham and Mark Levin -- accusing the company of defrauding customers and tricking them into buying coins under false pretenses. The Santa Monica City Attorney’s Office this week filed a 19-charge criminal complaint against Goldline, a California-based retailer, alleging the company runs a 'bait and switch operation' and suckers customers seeking to invest in gold bullion to instead buy overpriced coins."

President Obama participated in a second G-20 working meeting & a working dinner.

Bloomberg News: "Fewer Americans filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, signaling limited progress in the labor market."

Washington Post: "Greek politicians appeared to be rallying around a tough bailout plan Thursday, after the country’s main opposition party dropped its objections to the package and indicated it would back the measures. Prime Minister George Papandreou’s proposal to hold a national referendum on the bailout plan, a vote that would also determine Greece’s future in the euro zone, had caused fissures within his Socialist party and sent shockwaves through Europe. Thursday evening, he appeared to back away from the referendum, saying in a speech to his cabinet that if the opposition agreed to the bailout, there was no need to put it to a popular test." ...

... Bloomberg News: Italian PM Silvio "Berlusconi is going 'to Cannes empty-handed,' Il Sole 24 Ore, Italy’s leading financial daily, said in a front-page editorial. The Cabinet last night only agreed on a 'mini-plan' to fight the debt crisis, rather than accelerating a promised economic revamp through an emergency decree, the Milan-based newspaper said."

Washington Post: "Republicans on a House Energy and Commerce Committee panel on Thursday overrode vigorous Democratic objections and took the apparently unprecedented step of authorizing subpoenas for internal White House communications related to a half-billion dollar taxpayer loan guarantee for the failed solar company Solyndra. The move followed a last-minute attempt by the White House to fend off the move, with officials meeting with committee members and delivering several boxes of e-mails and other documents to committee investigators on Wednesday afternoon."

President Obama participated in a working meeting with G-20 leaders.

President Obama met with L-20 labor leaders this morning.

President Obama & Chancellor Merkel held a bilateral meeting today.

Presidents Obama & Sarkozy held a bilateral meeting this morning. AP: "Europe's debt drama dominated talks among leaders of the Group of 20 leading economies Thursday, with Greece's government facing potential collapse and European leaders admitting that the eurozone may face losing its weakest member. President Barack Obama said the most important task at the G-20 summit is to resolve the European financial crisis and urged European Union leaders to flesh out details of their ambitious plan to rescue Greece and stabilize financial markets."

Bloomberg News: "The high technology Internet industry and trial lawyers are helping President Barack Obama avoid a potential fundraising liability caused in part by a drop in support from his biggest 2008 industry backer: Wall Street.... Obama, 50, is exceeding his record fundraising pace of four years ago, even though he started later this time around."

President Obama arrived in Nice, France, early this morning to attend the G-20 meeting.

New York Times: "Hours after Prime Minister George A. Papandreou of Greece emerged from a meeting with Europe’s leaders here, pledging to hold a referendum on a new European debt deal within weeks, splits deepened Thursday within his government on the eve of a no-confidence vote that could lead to its collapse."

AP: "President Barack Obama says Iran's nuclear program continues to pose a threat, and that he and the president of France want the international community to keep pressuring Iran to come clean about its intentions. Obama commented Thursday as the International Atomic Energy Agency was preparing to soon reveal intelligence on Iran's alleged nuclear arms experiments."

New York Times: "Tear gas hung over Oakland for the second time in two weeks after a small group of demonstrators faced off against police early Thursday following a peaceful march of thousands of Occupy Oakland protesters." ...

... ABC News: "Police have used tear gas and 'flash bang' grenades on a large crowd of demonstrators that lit a massive bonfire in the streets of downtown Oakland, Calif., in a conflict following a day of action that saw the city’s port closed after demonstrators. Dozens of police in riot gear advanced on protesters who had pushed together several large metal and plastic trash bins to start a fire that reached 15 feet in the air, according to The Associated Press."

AP: "Syrian tanks mounted with machine-guns fired Thursday on a city at the heart of the country's uprising, killing at least four people one day after Damascus agreed to an Arab League plan calling on the government to pull the military out of cities, activists said."

Reuters: "Pressure mounted on Italy's besieged premier> to quit on Thursday, as six former parliamentary loyalists called for a new government and the squabbling cabinet failed to agree an urgent economic reform program."

AP: "Cuba announced Thursday it will allow real estate to be bought and sold for the first time since the early days of the revolution, the most important reform yet in a series of free-market changes under President Raul Castro