The GOP's Medicare confusion  —  The austerity crisis talks have hit a peculiar impasse.  The problem isn't, as most analysts expected, taxes, where Republicans seem increasingly resigned to new revenue.  It's Medicare.  And the particular Medicare problem isn't that Democrats are refusing the GOP's proposed Medicare cuts.

‘Disappointed’ Boehner calls on Obama to get serious on spending  —  Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Thursday there had been “no substantive progress” in fiscal-cliff negotiations in the two weeks since congressional leaders met with President Obama.  —  Boehner, addressing reporters …

Syrian Internet Is Off The Air  —  Starting at 10:26 UTC (12:26pm in Damascus), Syria's international Internet connectivity shut down.  In the global routing table, all 84 of Syria's IP address blocks have become unreachable, effectively removing the country from the Internet.