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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

Helen Thomas pwned by Dana Perino Video added  —  Heh. … I would say that Thomas is a disgrace to her profession, but it was their choice to put her on the front row in these gaggles.  It's therefore their call whether she's a disgrace or not, and if they think she is they'll move her off the front row.

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 …

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.

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.