I Hope This Isn't True  —  Ezra Klein says that the shape of a fiscal cliff deal is clear: only a 37 percent rate on top incomes, and a rise in the Medicare eligibility age.  —  I'm going to cross my fingers and hope that this is just a case of creeping Broderism, that it's a VSP fantasy …

Supreme Court to Take Up Gay Marriage  —  WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court announced on Friday that it would enter the national debate over same-sex marriage, agreeing to hear a pair of cases challenging state and federal laws that define marriage to include only unions of a man and a woman.

Psy Apologizes for Anti-American Performances  —  ‘I will forever be sorry for any pain I have caused anyone by those words,’ says South Korean singer  —  “Gangnam Style” singer Psy issued an apology Friday in reponse to widespread reports about his participation in two anti-American concerts a decade ago in his native South Korea.

Obama committee to accept corporate cash for January inauguration in Washington  —  President Obama's inaugural committee will accept corporate donations this time around, reversing a policy from four years ago banning such contributions, a spokeswoman said Friday.

Mr President, Don't Even Think About It  —  Charlie Savage reports on the Obama administration's response to the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington.  Balko is discouraged: … Pete Guither sees the article as a trial balloon: … Well, since they're asking …

Charlie Crist signs papers to become a Democrat  —  It was just a matter of time.  Charlie Crist is becoming a Democrat.  —  Crist — Florida's former Republican governor who relished the tough-on-crime nickname “Chain Gang Charlie” and used to describe himself variously as a …

GOP Resurrects Plan to Rig Electoral College  —  After Romney got walloped on November 6, Republicans want to change how electoral votes are awarded.  —  In September, top Pennsylvania Republicans shocked the nation by proposing a change to the state's election rules that would have rigged …

GOP, Koch Brothers Sneak Attack Guts Labor Rights in Michigan  —  In the state where workers sat down in Flint General Motors plants seventy-five years ago and emboldened the industrial labor movement that would give birth to the American middle class, Republican legislators on Thursday voted to gut basic labor rights.

Maher: Send Koch bros a ‘f—k you’  —  Bill Maher blogged on Friday that President Barack Obama should use a fiscal cliff deal as a “personal f—k you” to the Koch brothers by doing something about global warming.  —  In a post Friday, Maher wrote: “Since we're looking for new revenue streams …

Press fear Obama private swearing in  —  The White House Correspondents Association is strongly urging the Obama administration to allow press access to the president's official swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 20, following indications from inauguration committee officials that the event could potentially be closed to the press.

Legislators Hope To Slip Farm Subsidies And Food Stamps Into Fiscal Cliff Deal  —  Agriculture Committee chairs from both chambers work out their differences in private.  Easy spending cuts and deep ideological differences in Farm Bill talks.  —  Image by Iowa Farm Bureau, Gary Fandel / AP

Arpaio gets cold shoulder in San Francisco  —  immigration, san francisco news, lilian kim  —  SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — America's most controversial sheriff was in hostile territory Thursday night.  Arizona's Joe Arpaio is in San Francisco as an invited guest, despite strong public sentiment against him.

Whites Stayed Home And Re-Elected Obama  —  Now that all the data is in, the fundamental reason for Romney's defeat is apparent, if largely unreported.  It is not just that blacks, Latinos, and single women showed up in record numbers at the polls.  It's that whites didn't.

‘Welfare Spending Equates to $168 Per Day for Every Household in Poverty’  —  The amount of money spent on welfare programs equals, when converted to cash payments, about “$168 per day for every household in poverty,” the minority side of the Senate Budget Committee finds.