Clinton seizes opportunity after crisis  —  Friday afternoon began with possible tragedy: A hostage crisis at Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign office in Rochester, New Hampshire.  —  As the incident unfolded Clinton's campaign closed its doors and canceled her public appearances.

Why I Parted Ways With Chávez  —  ON Dec. 17, 1982, three of my fellow officers in the Venezuelan Army and I swore our allegiance to the Bolivarian Revolutionary Army 2000.  We considered ourselves to be at the birth of a movement that would turn a critical eye on Venezuela's troubled social …

City taxpayers picked up tab for Judith Giuliani's visit to kin in Pennsylvania  —  In the fall of 2001, city cops chauffeured Rudy Giuliani's then-mistress, Judith Nathan, to her parents' Pennsylvania home 130 miles away on the taxpayers' dime.  —  Records show that city cops refueled …

Rove's Version of 2002 War Vote Is Disputed  —  Former White House aide Karl Rove said yesterday it was Congress, not President Bush, who wanted to rush a vote on the looming war in Iraq in the fall of 2002, a version of events disputed by leading congressional Democrats and even some former Rove colleagues.

Jordan's Spy Agency: Holding Cell for the CIA  —  Foreign Terror Suspects Tell of Torture  —  AMMAN, Jordan — Over the past seven years, an imposing building on the outskirts of this city has served as a secret holding cell for the CIA.  —  The building is the headquarters …

Press Briefing by Dana Perino and Mark Dybul, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator  —  Press Briefing Slide (PDF, 186KB, 1 page)  —  MS. PERINO: It's been our great pleasure to work with Kelly O'Donnell of NBC News.  And today is her last day covering the White House full-time, and so we wish you the very best in your — (applause.)

Good Morning  —  Welcome to the new Firedoglake.  As you can see, we've been busy making a few changes.  —  The biggest change will be in the comment section, where we're going be implementing registration to keep the load on both our servers and our moderators from getting any heavier.

Death, Taxes and Mrs. Clinton  —  Only two of them are inevitable.  —  I will never forget that breathtaking moment when, in the CNN/YouTube debate earlier this fall, the woman from Ohio held up a picture and said, "Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Obama, Mr. Edwards, this is a human fetus.

Putin Withdraws Russia From Major Arms Treaty  —  President Vladimir Putin signed a law Friday suspending Russia's participation in a major conventional arms treaty that had limited NATO and Russian military deployments in Europe.  —  The Kremlin had been threatening all year to scrap …

Gospel Truth  —  AMID much publicity last year, the National Geographic Society announced that a lost 3rd-century religious text had been found, the Gospel of Judas Iscariot.  The shocker: Judas didn't betray Jesus.  Instead, Jesus asked Judas, his most trusted and beloved disciple, to hand him over to be killed.

Witness Names to Be Withheld From Detainee  —  Defense lawyers preparing for the war crimes trial of a 21-year-old Guantánamo detainee have been ordered by a military judge not to tell their client — or anyone else — the identity of witnesses against him, newly released documents show.