Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Europe: “Financial markets were focused in part on a conference call between Greek officials and the so-called troika of foreign creditors — the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank — as well as further meetings among senior officials in Athens struggling to close a gaping budget gap. But the Greek Finance Ministry tried to deflate expectations of a speedy result.”
* Deadly fights in Yemen: “Violence convulsed the streets of Yemen’s capital for a second day on Monday as government security forces battled soldiers who have joined antigovernment protesters in their movement to force President Ali Abdullah Saleh to resign. It was the worst violence since March in Yemen, the Arab world’s most impoverished country and a haven for Islamic militants.”
* I guess this is the quote of the day: “This is not class warfare. It’s math.”
* Crime rates drop: “The FBI says that violent crime dropped 6 percent in 2010, marking the fourth straight year of declines. And property crime also was down for the eighth straight year, falling 2.7 percent…. Robbery fell 10 percent, rape dropped 5 percent, and murder, non-negligent manslaughter and aggravated assault fell more than 4 percent.”
* DSK addresses his alleged crimes: “Dominique Strauss-Kahn apologized to his country on Sunday for a sexual encounter with a hotel maid he said was a ‘moral error’ he would regret all his life, and vowed to stay out of the Socialist Party’s 2012 election campaign in France.”
* I wonder if Netflix realizes it made its problems worse.
* Family values: “A Chicago judge issued a preliminary ruling Wednesday against U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) in his child-support dispute with his ex-wife, ordering the Tea Party favorite to explain why he appears to be $100,000 behind in child-support payments.”
* Fox News is worked up about the routine review of an Air Force general’s congressional testimony, but there’s just not much to the story.
* Radical Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio has assigned five investigators to look into the authenticity of President Obama’s birth certificate. There’s a deep strain of madness running through the right, and it’s just not healthy.
* Ralph Nader thinks Sarah Palin is “a lot smarter than most people credit her.” I don’t even know how to begin responding to that, so I won’t.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
