Hillary Clinton to accept Barack Obama's offer of secretary of state job  —  Hillary Clinton plans to accept the job of secretary of state offered by Barack Obama, who is reaching out to former rivals to build a broad coalition administration, the Guardian has learned.

Sen. Carper: Lieberman should pay consequences  —  Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), a close ally of Sen. Joe Lieberman, said the Connecticut Independent should pay a price for his campaign attacks against President-elect Barack Obama.  —  “There need to be consequences, and they cannot be insignificant …

More layoffs at Focus on the Family  —  Focus on the Family founder and president James Dobson.  (Photo/Focus on the Family)  —  UPDATE: Focus on the Family announced this afternoon that 202 jobs will be cut companywide — more than 20 percent of its workforce.

This kind of activism isn't helping  —  Joe.My.God: Chaos In San Francisco As Anti-Gay Christianists Are Chased Out Of The Castro.  Police had to escort a group of prosyletizers out of the middle of a protest.  In turn, claims of threats of verbal and physical abuse have been made by people of faith …

Yahoo's Jerry Yang to Step Down, As a Search for New CEO Commences  —  Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang will step down from his job as CEO, as soon as the board finds a replacement for him, in what sources close to the situation call a joint decision by him and the company's directors.

Gingrich: “[T]here is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us”  —  On the November 14 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, in reference to actions by individual protesters of Proposition 8, the recently passed California ballot initiative amending …

SEC Files Insider Trading Charges Against Mark Cuban  —  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  —  2008-273  —  Washington, D.C., Nov. 17, 2008 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Dallas entrepreneur Mark Cuban with insider trading for selling 600,000 shares of the stock …

California Fires Rage As Gay Marriage Protesters Defy God  —  God keeps trying to get their attention.  They, for their part, are shouting so loud for the acceptance of homosexuality, that they cannot hear the thunderous warnings of God: “Repent!  For the judgment comes soon!”

Huck unloads on Mitt; Romney camp hits back  —  Mike Huckabee is using his new book, out this week, to settle a few scores, not the least of which is with his fierce primary rival, Mitt Romney.  —  Per Michael Scherer, Huckabee picks up where he left off earlier this year …

Obama interview sets ‘60 Minutes’ viewership record  —  Barack Obama's first televised post-election interview gave Sunday night's “60 Minutes” its biggest audience in at least nine years.  —  The CBS News program was seen by 24.5 million viewers and earned a 6.4 preliminary adults 18-49 rating.

SOUP WITH PRINCE  —  The thirty-thousand-square-foot Italianate villa, built this century by Vanna White's ex-husband, looks like many of the other houses in Beverly Park, a gated community in L.A., except for the bright-purple carpet that spills down the front steps to announce its new tenant: Prince.

The racist backlash to Obama's presidency  —  [From Creative Loafing.]  —  As we predicted before the election, Barack Obama's victory has loosed a flood of hatefulness from the racist right in America.  Digby yesterday had a detailed post laying out some of the cases that have erupted so far.

Obama Meets With McCain in Chicago  —  WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama and Senator John McCain agreed on Monday, in their first meeting since the election, to work together on some of the nation's most pressing challenges, from the financial crisis to national security problems.

At National Review, a Threat to Its Reputation for Erudition  —  In a span of 252 days, the National Review lost two Buckleys — one to death, another to resignation — and an election.  —  Now, thanks to the coarsening effect of the Internet on political discourse, the magazine …

BY MEAT ALONE  —  The best Texas BBQ in the world.  —  At Snow's, the pit master, Tootsie Tomanetz, prepares her meat hours before the place opens.  Photographs by Brian Finke.  —  KEYWORDS … I approached Texas Monthly's cover story on “The Top 50 BBQ Joints in Texas” …

Time to Consider Palin  —  U.S. Virgin Islands — I suspect that when Time magazine chooses their Person of the Year for 2008, there will be little internal debate.  They've probably long picked The One — Barack Obama.  After all, more than half the country went and elected him the next president of the United States.