Boehner tells GOP he's through with one-on-one Obama talks  —  Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is signaling that at least one thing will change about his leadership during the 113th Congress: He's telling Republicans he is done with private, one-on-one negotiations with President Obama.

Peter King: Halt donations to House GOP  —  New York Republican Rep. Peter King went to war with his Republican colleagues on Wednesday after leaders spiked a Hurricane Sandy relief bill, calling on New Yorkers to stop all donations to GOP House members.  —  “These Republicans have no problem finding …

New Year, New Dish, New Media  —  When I first stumbled into blogging over 12 years ago, it was for two reasons: curiosity and freedom.  I was curious about the potential for writing in this new medium; and for the first time, I felt total freedom as a writer.  On my little blog, I was beholden to no one but my readers.

Al Jazeera Seeks a U.S. Voice Where Gore Failed  —  9:16 p.m. |  Updated Al Jazeera, the pan-Arab news giant, has long tried to convince Americans that it is a legitimate news organization, not a parrot of Middle Eastern propaganda or something more sinister.  —  It just bought itself 40 million more chances to make its case.

GOP chair urges support for same-sex marriage  —  Both sides are ramping up their gay marriage arguments in Springfield.  —  View other photograph collections  —  SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady of St. Charles is calling GOP lawmakers asking them to support …

The Democrats' Coming Civil War  —  The party is poised for a showdown over Social Security and Medicare.  Obama vs. the liberals.  —  Obama and Elizabeth Warren.  —  Image by Mark Wilson / Getty Images  —  For Democrats, there may be few things more entertaining than watching …

That Bad Ceiling Feeling  —  More thoughts about the fiscal deal:  —  One good thing is that the deficit scolds are furious: they had their hearts set on exploiting this crisis to push through benefit cuts, and it didn't happen — part of the larger good news that Obama didn't gut Social Security or Medicare this time around.

Obama's Immigration Reform Push To Begin This Month … REACT:  —  FOLLOW:  —  Immigration, Video, Latino Politics, Senate Immigration, Latino Politics, Immigration Reform, Obama Deferred Action, DREAM Act, Latino Politics, Latino Politics, Politics News

Court OKs secret drone opinions  —  The U.S. Government has no legal duty to disclose legal opinions justifying the use of drones to kill suspected terrorist operatives abroad, although doing so would contribute to “intelligent” public debate over the legality of that practice, a federal judge wrote in a ruling issued Wednesday.

‘Gun control’ doesn't survive Christmas  —  Number of mentions of the term “gun control” in the news, according to Nexis.  —  On the day of the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn., we published a chart showing the Sisyphean nature of the national gun control discussion.

Leading Conservative Religious Organization Warns That Christians Will Soon Be Treated Like Blacks In Jim Crow Era  —  The American Family Association, a top conservative Christian organization, emailed members today with a dire warning that, within 50 years, Christians will be treated like African Americans during the Jim Crow era.

The Post-Productive Economy  —  Take a look at these farm houses which I saw under construction in remote areas of Yunnan province China.  They were not unusual; farmsteads this size were everywhere in rural China.  Note the scale of these massive buildings.  Each support post is cut from a single huge tree.

Milky Way Contains At Least 100 Billion Planets, New Analysis Finds  —  The Milky Way contains at least 100 billion planets, or enough to have one for each of its stars, and many of them are likely to be capable of supporting conditions favorable to life, according to a new estimate from scientists …

Scott Brown questions Edward Markey's state residency in jab at possible opponent  —  Senator Scott Brown today took on a possible opponent in a special election to succeed his colleague John F. Kerry, questioning whether US Representative Edward J. Markey is actually a resident of Massachusetts.

It's a Spending Problem  —  When talking about the fiscal problem we face, Democrats and Republicans have to start from the same set of figures, which by Washington convention is usually a set of Congressional Budget Office figures about the spending and revenue.

Obama Returns to Hawaii at an Added Cost of Over $3 Million  —  In a move that is rich in irony, President Obama agreed Tuesday night to sign an emergency deficit reduction bill that does almost nothing to rein in spending and then jetted out to Hawaii to resume his vacation at an extra cost of more than $3 million to taxpayers.

After Newtown, company makes bullet-proof kid clothes  —  Miguel Caballero has been making bullet-proof clothes for politicians and other bigwigs for 20 years, but not for kids.  The latest US school massacre has changed that.  —  This year he plans a line for children — T-shirts, vests …

U.S. now on pace for European levels of austerity in 2013  —  For years now, economists like Paul Krugman have been criticizing countries in Europe for engaging in too much austerity during the downturn — that is, enacting tax increases and spending cuts while their economies were still weak.