Pitney:

The numbers at today’s rally are hard to gauge, but our correspondent Saeed Kamali Dehghan, reckons there could be as many as one million people there. …

He said the demonstration is bigger than Monday’s rally. Many are wearing black and carrying photos of those who died. Some are carry placards calling for a new election not a recount. The shops on the route are closed in support of the rally, he added.

More photos of today’s demonstration here.
Read more »

Take the edge off.

[via]

How to wrap your brain around this mess in Iran?  Here’s my formula:

1) Nico Pitney – an Iranian national liveblogging for the Huffington post (good video content);

2) Juan Cole at Informed Comment – he’s a Middle East expert;

3) Talking Points Memo – scroll down the front page – stories are all grouped together;

4) al Jazeera English (last, but not least).

Finally, I found this from Pitney to be very powerful – a female medical student said:

photo: Newscom/AFP

Read more »

Schtupping a staffer:

WASHINGTON — Republican  Sen. John Ensign of Nevada admitted Tuesday he had an extramarital affair with a member of his campaign staff. Ensign told The Associated Press in a statement, “I deeply regret and am very sorry for my actions.”

[googling]

RENO — Stepping up his re-election campaign, Sen. Harry Reid says his Republican challenger Rep. John Ensign showed a “lack of maturity” in calling so quickly for President Clinton’s resignation.

***

Ensign defended his position on Monday and repeated his call for Clinton to resign.

“I think we are dealing with a very serious problem here. With what we know [this was prior to Starr report – ed.] and what we already knew, to me, the honorable thing to do would be to resign,” Ensign said in a telephone interview from Washington.

I eagerly await his resignation. And Vitter’s.

[memeorandum link]

[politico]

Read more »

One of those interesting-if-true moments:

According to the Cyrus News Agency, Tuesday morning 16 senior members of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps were arrested. “These commanders have been in contact with members of the Iranian army to join the people’s movement,” CNA reports. “Three of the commanders are veterans of Iran-Iraq war. They have been moved to an undisclosed location in East Tehran.” This report has not been confirmed by other sources.

Here’s the interesting part:
Read more »

Again, pretty amazing footage:

Not much news, but some pretty amazing footage: