Americans Have Mixed Reaction to Fiscal Cliff Agreement  —  Democrats much more positive about agreement than Republicans  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Americans have a decidedly mixed reaction to the “fiscal cliff” agreement reached by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama this week …

Club for Growth will punish members voting for Sandy flood aid  —  The conservative Club for Growth said Friday that it will punish House members who voted for a flood insurance measure aimed at helping pay for Hurricane Sandy's damage.  —  The Club will “key-vote” the measure, using it to compile an annual rating for each lawmaker.

Pelosi Not Fazed by Photoshopped Pic of Dem Women  —  Thursday morning, as the 113th Congress prepared to be sworn into office, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi held a photo opportunity on the steps of the House of Representatives with Democratic women from the caucus.

Former NRA President Equates Gun Laws With Racism  —  Those looking for moderation and sensitivity in the gun control debate probably, by this point, know better than to look to the National Rifle Association.  —  But even by the standards of what we've heard from the NRA recently …

Hagel likely to be nominated for Defense Secretary next week  —  Multiple sources on Capitol Hill and in key special-interest groups involved in national security issues say they have been told to be prepared for a Chuck Hagel nomination for Defense Secretary, either as early as Monday or perhaps more likely Tuesday of next week.

No, a $1 Trillion Platinum Coin is Not Legal  —  For some reason, the possibility of evading the debt ceiling by minting a $1 trillion platinum coin is getting some blogospheric love again.  This is based on a 2000 revision to the U.S. statute on money and finance that reads:

Barney Frank: I want to be senator  —  Barney Frank, one day out of Congress, said on Friday that he has asked Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to send him back as an interim senator when Sen. John Kerry becomes secretary of state.  —  “A month ago, or a few weeks ago, I said I wasn't interested,” Frank said on MSNBC's “Morning Joe.”

Al Jazeera in America  —  Al Jazeera, the pan-Arab news network, has long wanted to gain a bigger American television audience, and it may have finally found a way to do that by buying Current TV.  But as the deal was being signed, Time Warner Cable announced it would immediately stop carrying Current …

Lecture to Oxford Farming Conference, 3 January 2013  —  [Please check against delivery - see video below for speech as given.]  —  07 Mark Lynas from Oxford Farming Conference on Vimeo.  —  I want to start with some apologies.  For the record, here and upfront, I apologise for having spent several years ripping up GM crops.

Purity Culture Is Rape Culture  —  Indian women offer prayers for a gang rape victim at Mahatma Gandhi memorial in New Delhi.  —  Her intestines were removed because the six men used a rusty metal rod during the “rape.”  —  That fact—the rusty metal rod—is what's haunted …

House rules aim to block controversial healthcare board's Medicare cuts  —  House Republicans signaled Thursday they will not follow rules in President Obama's healthcare law that were designed to speed Medicare cuts through Congress.  —  The House is set to vote Thursday afternoon on rules for the 113th Congress.

Powerful Tea Party Group's Internal Docs Leak—Read Them Here  —  FreedomWorks bills itself as a grassroots outfit, but it's bankrolled mostly by big-money donors.  —  FreedomWorks, the national conservative group that helped launch the tea party movement, sells itself as a genuine grassroots operation …

Hope and less change: Americans cringe at first paychecks of 2013; Stunned lib asks, ‘What happened?’  —  Happy New Year and happy payday!  Thank goodness our “lord and savior” Obama signed the fiscal cliff bill into law after proudly proclaiming, “Under this law, more than 98 percent …

White House Plans To Overwhelm NRA With Rapid Victory  —  The White House and gun control supporters are gearing up for a whirlwind month, with plans to pass reform legislation before outrage over the Sandy Hook massacre has a chance to fade.  —  While the fiscal cliff has dominated Washington's attention …

Workers making $30,000 will take a bigger hit on their pay than those earning $500,000 under new fiscal deal  —  Middle-class workers will take a bigger hit to their income proportionately than those earning between $200,000 and $500,000 under the new fiscal cliff deal, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

Politics Counts: How Wealthier Areas Favored Cliff Deal  —  Dante Chinni is the writer of Politics Counts , which runs every Friday.  Mr. Chinni is the editor of Patchwork Nation, which examines different types of communities across the U.S.  —  Call it the cliff twist …