David Gregory will not host this Sunday's ‘Meet The Press’  —  NBC's David Gregory, the subject of a now-popular police investigation, is on vacation and will not host this Sunday's edition of “Meet The Press.”  —  The Washington Metropolitan Police Department launched an investigation …

The White House's Kent Conrad problem  —  On Fox News Sunday, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), the outgoing chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, made a proposal to solve the “fiscal cliff.”  The proposal isn't going anywhere, but its specifics explain something important about the White House's negotiating strategy.

Schatz picked by Abercrombie to replace Inouye in U.S. Senate  —  Gov. Neil Abercrombie today selected Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz to replace the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye in the Senate.  —  Schatz, 40, said he will fly to Washington tonight and be sworn in Thursday so he can participate …

Benghazi penalties are bogus  —  The four officials supposedly out of jobs because of their blunders in the run-up to the deadly Benghazi terror attack remain on the State Department payroll — and will all be back to work soon, The Post has learned.  —  The highest-ranking official caught …

Geithner: US will hit $16.4 trillion debt limit on New Year's Eve  —  The United States will reach its $16.4 trillion borrowing limit on Dec. 31 and undertake “extraordinary measures” to avoid default, the Treasury Department informed congressional leaders in a letter on Wednesday.

Chuck Hagel Gets His Second Wind  —  Tom Friedman, in this morning's New York Times, endorses Chuck Hagel for secretary of defense.  Friedman finds it “disgusting” that Hagel has been “smeared as an Israel hater at best” by his detractors (some neoconservatives).

Ex-President Bush in guarded condition in ICU with elevated fever  —  Former President George H.W. Bush was in the intensive care unit of a Houston hospital Wednesday night battling a fever, his spokesman said.  —  The 41st president has been at Methodist hospital for more than a month now.

Virginia embodies GOP's woes  —  Given a question on immigration, the attorney general puzzled attendees by discussing human trafficking and repeatedly using the word “illegals.”  —  Other Republicans, worried Cuccinelli is micro-managing his own campaign, recoiled at a curt note …

Let's Come Together, America  —  Posted by Howard S., Starbucks chairman, president and chief executive officer  —  There are moments in our lives when we have an opportunity to ignite tremendous positive change—not just in the lives of the customers and communities we serve every day, but in our country.

Liberals Panic As They Lose the Gun Narrative  —  When you argue for a living, you can tell how an argument is going for you.  The evidence and my gut both tell me that the liberals have lost control of the gun control narrative.  —  Not for lack of trying - it was almost as if they were poised …

A cost savings everyone should endorse  —  The cliff talks have disintegrated, victim of the Crazy Caucus also known as the Republican House.  But eventually they will resume, and with them discussion of a way to raise billions in tax revenue — an approach on which House Speaker John Boehner …

PSY CHRISTMAS SHOW BOMBS  —  The 31st annual “Christmas in Washington” concert on TNT December 21 suffered a dramatic 25 percent loss in viewers from the previous year, according to Nielsen Media Research.  The 2011 cablecast of “Christmas in Washington” drew 1.5 million viewers.

Journal News' gun-owner database draws criticism  —  Comments, calls go national, thanks to social media, key websites  —  WHITE PLAINS — Thousands of people, many from outside Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties, have taken to their computers and phones in rage after The Journal News posted …

3 senators want in on detention arguments  —  Three Republican senators are asking that their lawyer be allowed to make a presentation when a federal appeals court hears oral arguments on the scope of a provision regarding law-of-war detention that Congress passed last year.

The N.R.A. at the Bench  —  There has been plenty written about the National Rifle Association in recent days.  But nothing that I've seen has focused on the gun lobby's increasingly pernicious role in judicial confirmations.  So here's a little story.  —  Back in 2009, when President …