Senate's Returning Democrats Unanimously Favor Filibuster Reform  —  All except Dodd sign a letter urging Majority Leader Harry Reid to change the rules.  —  All Democratic senators returning next year have signed a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., urging him to consider action …

Why has the lame-duck session been so productive?  —  So far, the lame-duck session has managed to pass an $850 billion tax-cuts-and-stimulus deal, the repeal of DADT, the Defense Authorization bill, a continuing resolution to keep funding the federal government, the START treaty …

Barney Frank Makes a Fool Out of Conservative Reporter Over 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'  —  A conservative reporter from right-leaning CNS News thought he would play gotcha journalist and ask gay Congressman Barney Frank about gay and straight soldiers showering together.  Big mistake.  Huge.

Supreme Court rules against Miller  —  The Alaska Supreme Court today ruled against Joe Miller on all counts, a decision that leaves his challenge of Sen. Lisa Murkowski's victory on life support.  —  “There are no remaining issues raised by Miller that prevent this election from being certified …

Senate Passes Arms Control Treaty With Russia, 71-26  —  WASHINGTON — The Senate gave final approval on Wednesday to a new arms control treaty with Russia, scaling back leftover cold war nuclear arsenals and capping a surprisingly successful lame-duck session for President Obama just weeks after his party's electoral debacle.

Obama signs DADT repeal before big, emotional crowd  —  President Obama signed the landmark repeal of the military's “don't ask, don't tell” policy Wednesday morning, handing a major victory to advocates of gay rights and fulfilling a campaign promise to do away with a practice that he has called discriminatory.

Oops!  Fox & Friends Accidentally Identifies Elie Wiesel As “Holocaust Winner”  —  Wow.  We all make mistakes and typos.  There will probably be at least one in this post alone.  However, some typos are worse than others.  This is one of those typos.  Last week, Fox & Friends …

Shock: Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson favors marijuana legalization  —  Robertson a welcome addition to drug reform circles, former narc tells Raw Story  —  Count this among the 10 things nobody ever expected to see in their lifetimes: 700 Club founder Pat Robertson …

The Net Neutrality Coup  —  The campaign to regulate the Internet was funded by a who's who of left-liberal foundations.  —  The Federal Communications Commission's new “net neutrality” rules, passed on a partisan 3-2 vote yesterday, represent a huge win for a slick lobbying campaign run by liberal activist groups and foundations.

Steven Spielberg advising Nancy Pelosi on rebranding Democrats … THE FIX NEWSLETTERS … THE LIVE FIX … POLITICS & PINTS

Republican House Rules Makes It Harder to Increase Debt Limit, Raise Taxes  —  The new Republican House rules proposal is out, and people are rightly guffawing about the vow to read the Constitution on the House floor at the beginning of the session.  But if silliness like this is the worst …

Obama: DOMA Should Be Repealed, Lawyers Looking At ‘Range Of Options’  —  President Obama, although he still supports civil unions over same-sex marriage, said yesterday that he believes the Defense of Marriage Act should be repealed.  —  “Repealing DOMA, getting ENDA [a bill to protect LGBT people …

The Blast Shack  —  We asked Bruce Sterling (who spoke at Webstock '09) for his take on Wikileaks.  —  The Wikileaks Cablegate scandal is the most exciting and interesting hacker scandal ever.  I rather commonly write about such things, and I'm surrounded by online acquaintances …

Huck: Palin wrong, FLOTUS right  —  Potential GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee says Sarah Palin's wrong and Michelle Obama's right, at least when it comes to the first lady's push to combat childhood obesity.  —  “With all due respect to my colleague and friend Sarah Palin …

Vote Hurts Obama's Push to Empty Cuba Prison  —  WASHINGTON — Congress voted Wednesday to impose strict new limits on transferring detainees out of the Guantánamo Bay prison, dealing a major blow to President Obama's vows to shut down the center and give federal court trials to many of the prisoners.

When 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Repeal Meets Religious Liberty … I've recently authored several posts discussing how social conservatives seem to have lost the gay issue but have won on the life issue.  There are many reasons for this, but one, I think, has to do with who the perceived “victim” is.

WikiLeaks Joins Forces With Lebedev's Moscow-Based Newspaper Novaya Gazeta  —  Novaya Gazeta, the Moscow newspaper controlled by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and billionaire Alexander Lebedev, said it agreed to join forces with WikiLeaks to expose corruption in Russia.