Secret Service Apologies. Profusely.
With reports circulating that the White House party crashers Michaele and Tareq Salahi, shook hands with President Obama, and more reports (which I can confirm through independent reporting) coming out how high-level White House anger at the Secret Service, the agency today issued the following, fairly extraordinarily public statement today, in the words of director Mark Sullivan:

U.S. Circumspect On Iran
U.S. officials just held a background briefing with reporters in light of the International Atomic Energy Agency decided to formally knock Iran for unsanctioned proliferation activities. The upshot from the administration: now is the time to get serious. The world is united in favor of tougher, non-diplomatic means to pressure Iran. But no word on when or how -- just yet. And hey -- who says that Obama left China without any concrete deliverables?  (China and Russia voted along with the rest of the IAEA to censure Iran. The U.S. knew this vote was coming, and it became a

The Black Friday Panic
Stocks plunge! The yen crashes! Crude oil slides down!  Investors flee to the safety of the U.S. Treasury. The world's economic establishment is taken by surprise (an exogenous shock) as the Dubai emirate suddenly decides to deal differently with its debt. . On a broad level, one would assume that if Dubai could have handled its debt problems privately, it would have -- and the mere fact that it could not justifies the fears that are moving the markets.

The "Breach": Was Obama's Security Compromised?
The word "breach" is thrown around like a water molecule in a bubble these days, but to understand how the supposedly impenetrable White House could be "crashed" (another popular word -- one conjures up Vince Vaughan) by members of the pseudo-celebrity class, it's important to take a few steps back.

Stay Up To Date With Tweets
We're taking a break, but the news doesn't stop. Enjoy a curated Tweet list. Think of it as the candied yam to tied you over until we've slept off the l-tryptophan.