Why Is Obama Caving on Taxes?  —  The discouraging thing about the “fiscal cliff” negotiations is not that they have gone into the eleventh hour, or that they may go into the new year, or even that they won't resolve the long-term budget deficit.  It's that President Obama has retreated on his hard line on taxes.

NBC reporter raises Hillary Clinton questions  —  The top science reporter for NBC News raised questions Monday about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's hospitalization, raising the possibility the blood clot causing isn't linked to an earlier concussion.  —  “It's not exactly clear …

Greenwich Village couple busted with cache of weapons, bombmaking explosives: sources  —  The privileged daughter of a prominent city doctor, and her boyfriend — a Harvard grad and Occupy Wall Street activist — have been busted for allegedly having a cache of weapons and a bombmaking explosive in their Greenwich Village apartment.

Let's Give Up on the Constitution  —  AS the nation teeters at the edge of fiscal chaos, observers are reaching the conclusion that the American system of government is broken.  But almost no one blames the culprit: our insistence on obedience to the Constitution, with all its archaic, idiosyncratic and downright evil provisions.

How the ‘Dairy Cliff’ Will Cream Consumers  —  Got milk?  Enjoy the price you paid, because federal policy, reaching its sell-by date, will have dire results.  —  If the price of milk zooms up shortly after Jan. 1, the increase will come courtesy of a venal and feckless U.S. Congress.

Barney Frank Opposes Chuck Hagel For Defense Secretary  —  “I cannot think of any other minority group in the U.S. today where such a negative statement and action made in 1998 would not be an obstacle to a major Presidential appointment,” Barney Frank says.  —  Image by J. Scott Applewhite / AP

Republican party is ‘devoid of a soul’, says Jon Huntsman  —  The Republican Party is leaderless and “devoid of a soul” but can rebuild in the wake of its election defeat if it embraces its history of supporting limited government, according to Jon Huntsman.  —  Republican presidential candidate, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman