Republican Candidates Firm on Immigration  —  In front of what will probably be their most pro-immigration audience, Republican candidates toned down their rhetoric but told Spanish-language television viewers in a debate on Sunday that they would take strong measures to close off the country's borders to illegal immigration.

Oprahpalooza in South Carolina  —  (Photo: Jeremy M. Lange for The New York Times)  —  COLUMBIA, S.C. — It was a staggering sight.  Upwards of 29,000 people at a political rally.  And the Democratic primary in South Carolina is not until Jan. 26.  —  The Double O Express …

'Meet the Press' transcript for Dec. 9, 2007  —  Mayor Rudy Giuliani, R-N.Y.  —  MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: Our Meet the Candidates 2008 series continues, an exclusive interview with Republican Rudy Giuliani.  He has served as associate attorney general in Washington …

Meet The Press: Mistresses Should Get Secret Service Protection Too!  —  Somehow, I don't think Judith Nathan Giuliani should feel too comforted by that...  Download (1040) |  Play (1374) Download (689) |  Play (840) (h/t Dan)  —  Continuing his surprisingly confrontational interview …

Senators and Representatives Could Have Spoken Out On Waterboarding: the Constitution Protects Their Right to Speak Out Without Fear of Legal Consequences  —  A number of the best internet commentators are discussing today's news that a few of the leading Congressional Democrats may have been …

There Are Flops, And Then There Is "Redacted"  —  Brian De Palma's "Redacted," the Iraqi war movie that won the best director prize at the Venice Film Festival but has been dismissed as loathsome and awful in other circles, has been in theaters - okay, 15 theaters - nationwide for three weeks now.

Sunday horror: Church shootings in Colorado; gunman killed by armed female church security staffer  —  By now, you've read about the two tragic church shootings incidents in Colorado earlier today.  What you may not have heard about is how the gunman at the second church was reportedly stopped:

Iran 'hoodwinked' CIA over nuclear plans  —  British spy chiefs have grave doubts that Iran has mothballed its nuclear weapons programme, as a US intelligence report claimed last week, and believe the CIA has been hoodwinked by Teheran.  —  The timing of the CIA report has also provoked fury …

Lawrence O'Donnell Loses His Ever-Loving Mind on McLaughlin  —  A sane, if highly flawed, discussion of Mitt Romney's "Faith In America" speech on the McLaughlin Group was cold-cocked into the realm of crazy-faced anger by guest panelist Lawrence O'Donnell this morning, who started off by criticizing Romney …

Many Seeking Disability From Social Security Face Big Delays  —  RALEIGH, N.C. — Steadily lengthening delays in the resolution of Social Security disability claims have left hundreds of thousands of people in a kind of purgatory, now waiting as long as three years for a decision.

Taliban 'hanged boy, 12, for spying for UK'  —  Taliban fighters hanged a 12-year-old boy from a mulberry tree, claiming he was passing information on Taliban roadside bomb attacks to police and British forces, Afghan police have said.  —  The gruesome murder, which occurred in Sangin …

U.S. Is No Haven, Canadian Judge Finds  —  Late last month, a federal judge in Canada ruled that the United States had violated international conventions on torture and the rights of refugees.  —  The decision has caused quite a stir in Canada.  The Globe and Mail, a Toronto newspaper …

A Crime Buster, With His Eye on the Future  —  He was, to the popular eye, Eliot Ness reincarnated, an unsparing prosecutor for a crime-shadowed age.  And when the United States attorney in Manhattan resigned in January 1989, he earned a tabloid salute:  —  "Good News for Bad Guys," The Daily News proclaimed.