The Dickishness Of The GOP  —  What we've observed these past two years is a political party that knows nothing but scorched earth tactics, cannot begin to see any merits in the other party's arguments, refuses to compromise one inch on anything, and has sought from the very beginning to do nothing but destroy the Obama presidency.

Fed wants to strip a key protection for homeowners  —  WASHINGTON — As Americans continue to lose their homes in record numbers, the Federal Reserve is considering making it much harder for homeowners to stop foreclosures and escape predatory home loans with onerous terms.

GOP to upend spending process  —  House Republicans seem intent on blowing up the staid appropriations process when they take power in January — potentially upending the old bulls in both parties who have spent decades building their power over the federal budget.

Boehner to create women's restroom adjacent to House floor  —  Speaker-designate John Boehner (R-Ohio) intends to commandeer a swanky office space adjacent to the House floor and build a women's restroom for female lawmakers.  —  For years, men have had the luxury of using facilities located adjacent …

Pentagon: We could have shut down Wikileaks but chose not to  —  I hope he's telling the truth.  Because if our cyberwar unit is so weak that they can't hit a few servers in Sweden, then I, for one, welcome our new Chinese overlords.  The key question: Was this decision driven chiefly by military or political concerns?

Diplomats Noted Canadian Mistrust Toward U.S.  —  WASHINGTON — In early 2008, American diplomats stationed in Ottawa turned on their television sets and were aghast: there was an “onslaught” of Canadian shows depicting “nefarious American officials carrying out equally nefarious deeds in Canada …

Obama and GOPers Worked Together to Kill Bush Torture Probe  —  A WikiLeaks cable shows that when Spain considered a criminal case against ex-Bush officials, the Obama White House and Republicans got really bipartisan.  —  Post Comment  —  In its first months in office …

Palin, I knew Reagan.  You're no Reagan.  —  Editor's note: Ed Rollins, a senior political contributor for CNN, is senior presidential fellow at the Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency at Hofstra University.  He is a principal with the Dilenschneider Group, a global public relations firm.

County Recorder in Massachusetts Goes After MERS  —  This is one of those mind-blowing days, one I don't feel like I have much of a grip on.  But with all the despair with the federal government, the power structure that protects the banks at all costs, etc., it's worth looking at some potential good news for a change.

Wikileaks' Assange in UK, police know where: report  —  (Reuters) - Wikileaks website founder Julian Assange is in Britain and police know his whereabouts but have refrained so far from acting on an international warrant for his arrest, a British newspaper said on Thursday.

Ted Strickland: Democrats Suffering From ‘Intellectual Elitism’  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? … WASHINGTON — Fresh off a narrow loss in his gubernatorial re-election campaign, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland on Wednesday offered some somber and sober-minded criticism for his own party and president.

Cuba travel ban won't be lifted this year  —  Legislation eliminating a longstanding travel ban to Cuba is dead in this Congress, several senior Democrats said this week.  —  Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.), a strong backer of lifting the ban, called it “absurd” that Congress would maintain restrictions …

Hangover theory and morality plays  —  My recent fit over the technocratic style in American economics was the excrescence of a long-standing complaint.  The very first time I made that complaint was in a piece arguing that Paul Krugman's dismissal of Austrian-ish “hangover theory” was overhasty.