On Christmas, Liberals Are By No Means Liberal  —  Random thoughts on the passing scene:  —  When I was growing up, an older member of the family used to say, “What you don't know would make a big book.”  Now that I am an older member of the family, I would say to anyone …

Charles Durning, Prolific Character Actor, Dies at 89  —  Charles Durning, who overcame poverty, battlefield trauma and nagging self-doubt to become an acclaimed character actor, whether on stage as Big Daddy in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” or in film as the lonely widower smitten …

Inouye replacement to be named Wednesday  —  Gov. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, will announce Wednesday who he is appointing to late Sen. Daniel Inouye's vacant seat, a Democratic source tells CBS News.  —  A few days ago, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., urged Abercrombie to appoint a successor …

The Ghost Of Climate Yet To Come  —  Irreversible does not mean unstoppable: “Why show me this, if I am past all hope?”  —  Unlike Scrooge, we don't get a spirit to show us what the future holds if we don't change our ways.  —  In the past two years, though, we have gotten the tiniest glimpse …

Our View: We can all learn from Sen. Crapo's mistake  —  Idaho constituents have learned a few things about Sen. Mike Crapo over the past couple of days.  He has shown three things: That he is human, that he can make a mistake and that lemonade is not the strongest drink in his glass.

Prof. Richard Parncutt: Death Penalty for Global Warming Deniers?  —  Hat tip to Richard Tol for alerting me to this nice example of eco-fascist thinking from Richard Parncutt, a Professor at the University of Graz, Austria.  Parncutt, an expert on the psychology of music, originally from Australia …

Michelle Obama makes kids' whole, like, life  —  The first lady answers calls to NORAD from children looking for Santa, including this one from the Thomas family in Winona, N.J.: … In another call, this one from Texas, a boy named Anthony wants the first lady to visit him and he's not taking no for an answer:

Ex-NRA fave Gilly in switch  —  WASHINGTON — Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand vigorously championed Americans' right to carry high-powered guns — before she turned against them.  —  Since the Newtown massacre, the senator has been at the forefront of the national campaign demanding stricter gun-control laws …

Perfecting Our Union  —  The president of the United States reflects on what Abraham Lincoln means to him, and to America.  —  Abraham Lincoln, photographed by Alexander Gardner on February 5, 1865, in Washington, D.C. While Gardner was processing the image, the photographic plate broke.

'It's a police thing' — nearby cops move in, give Newtown officers Christmas off  —  (CNN) — From around the world, condolences and offers of support have washed tragedy-ravaged Newtown, Connecticut, with wave after wave of sympathy from people trying somehow, some way, to reach out, to help, to comfort.

A ‘dad’ is tenth most popular Christmas list request for children  —  A ‘dad’ is tenth most popular Christmas list request for children with youngsters happy to forgo the latest iPad, toy or new pet, a survey has found.  —  When it comes to Christmas, it might be safe to assume children …

In Which Greg Mankiw Pretends to Be Puzzled...  But I don't think that he is.  —  I think Greg Mankiw knows why people think that helping George W. Bush create long-term structural deficits in 2003 was a bad thing to do.  —  I think Greg Mankiw knows perfectly well why people think that now …