Lights, camera, Clinton  —  If not a transfer of power, the whole show seemed at least a temporary handoff.  An embattled president, fresh off an electoral shellacking and struggling to sell a controversial tax deal to members of his own party, turned to a former president who, exactly 16 years ago …

In Tapes, Nixon Rails About Jews and Blacks  —  YORBA LINDA, Calif. — Richard M. Nixon made disparaging remarks about Jews, blacks, Italian-Americans and Irish-Americans in a series of extended conversations with top aides and his personal secretary, recorded in the Oval Office 16 months before he resigned as president.

Palin-Hating Columbia Professor, Huffington Post Blogger, Busted for Incest  —  Let's begin with a flashback, shall we?  In July 2009, when Sarah Palin resigned as governor of Alaska, Columbia University professor David Epstein wrote at his Huffington Post blog: … Got that?

Holbrooke in Critical Condition Following Surgery  —  WASHINGTON — Richard C. Holbrooke, the Obama administration's special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, is in critical condition at a Washington hospital after emergency surgery to repair a tear in his aorta, the State Department said in a statement on Saturday.

Appointment Fight Divides Judges  —  Here is one for the “only in New Jersey” file: A state Supreme Court justice refuses to participate in any rulings because he objects to another jurist's serving temporarily on the court.  —  The dispute, aired in opinions released on Friday …

Invaders from Mars  —  “Voting doesn't change anything — the politicians always win.”  'Twas not always so, but I'm hearing variations on that theme a lot these days, and not just in the UK.  —  Why do we feel so politically powerless?  Why is the world so obviously going to hell in a handbasket?

Baby Jesus ousted from St. George Ferry Terminal  —  STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The Christ is out of Christmas at the St. George Ferry Terminal.  —  In what Catholics see as political correctness run amok, the city Department of Transportation (DOT) has removed a Nativity scene from the terminal …

Emanuel's wife may have to fly to Chicago to testify in residency battle  —  Rahm Emanuel's wife may have to fly in from Washington, D.C., to testify Tuesday in the Election Board case about whether or not her husband is eligible to run for mayor of Chicago.

Madoff's Elder Son Found Dead in Suicide  —  Mark Madoff, the older of Bernard L. Madoff's two sons, was found dead in his Manhattan apartment on Saturday, in an apparent suicide on the second anniversary of the day his father was arrested for running a gigantic Ponzi scheme that shattered thousands of lives around the world.

Bernie Sanders: In 2007, “the top 1 percent of all income earners in the United States made 23.5 percent of all income,” which is “more than the entire bottom 50 percent.”  —  Bernie Sanders, in viral speech, says top 1 percent earn more than 23 percent of U.S. income

With Filibuster, C-SPAN Has A Hit On Its Hands  —  Mr. Sanders has gone to C-SPAN.  —  Senator Bernard Sanders, independent of Vermont, started speaking against the Obama administration's tax cut deal on Friday morning, in full view of C-SPAN2's cameras, and by lunchtime his old-fashioned filibuster …