Giffords and Kelly: Fighting gun violence  —  Our new campaign will launch a national dialogue and raise funds to counter influence of the gun lobby.  —  STORY HIGHLIGHTS  — The children of Sandy Hook deserve our efforts to stop gun violence.  —  In response to a horrific series …

Congress somewhere below cockroaches, traffic jams, and Nickelback in Americans' esteem  —  Our newest national poll finds that Congress only has a 9% favorability rating with 85% of voters viewing it in a negative light.  We've seen poll after poll after poll over the last year talking …

Rescued by a Bailout, A.I.G. May Sue Its Savior  —  Fresh from paying back a $182 billion bailout, the American International Group has been running a nationwide advertising campaign with the tagline “Thank you America.”  —  Behind the scenes, the restored insurance company is weighing whether …

Why Hagel Was Picked  —  Americans don't particularly like government, but they do want government to subsidize their health care.  They believe that health care spending improves their lives more than any other public good.  In a Quinnipiac poll, typical of many others …

Moderate Republican group to remove ‘Republican’ from name, welcome Democrats  —  The Republican Main Street Partnership, a Washington-based group that has promoted moderate GOP lawmakers and policies, will remove the word “Republican” from its title and welcome center-right Democrats in 2013, Yahoo News has learned.

Current situation: Staffers talk about first meeting with Al Jazeera  —  Just call him Al Gorezeera.  —  Yesterday morning, the still shell shocked staff at Current TV was called to an all hands staff meeting at its San Francisco headquarters, which was teleconferenced to their offices in LA and NYC, to meet their new bosses.

Obama's Second Term: More (and More Presidential) Polarization  —  By Francis Wilkinson 2013-01-07T18:23:23Z  —  President Barack Obama's anticipated nomination of Chuck Hagel as defense secretary shows how the polarization of Obama's second term might differ from that of his first.

Mosbacher: I'm Furious at My Own Party  —  RNC Finance Committee co-chair Georgette Mosbacher tells Michelle Cottle that she's “mad as hell” about what Republicans have done to themselves.  —  Best not to ask GOP fundraising legend Georgette Mosbacher about the state of her beloved party unless you want an earful.

This Rape Infographic Is Going Viral.  Too Bad It's Wrong.  —  Yesterday, under the headline, “The saddest graph you'll see today,” Dylan Matthews at the Washington Post published this infographic created by the Enliven Project to put the legal issues around rape, its prosecutions, and concerns about false accusations into perspective.

Does aiding WikiLeaks equal aiding Al Qaeda?  —  Prosecutors and lawyers for alleged WikiLeaks source Pfc. Bradley Manning were back in court Tuesday, sparring over one of the central questions in his case: does giving sensitive government information to the media equate to aiding Al Qaeda?

Judge Limits a Police Stop-and-Frisk Program in the Bronx  —  A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the New York Police Department's practice of stopping people suspected of trespassing outside private buildings in the Bronx was unconstitutional.  —  The decision appears …

Widow of Medgar Evers to deliver invocation at Obama inauguration  —  President Obama has picked Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of slain civil rights icon Medgar Evers, to deliver the invocation at his public swearing-in later this month.  It is believed to be the first time a woman …

Florida Governor Inflates Cost Of Medicaid Expansion By 2,600% To Avoid Implementing Obamacare  —  Internal email messages uncovered by Health News Florida reveal that Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) is knowingly citing inaccurate cost estimates to justify his refusal to expand Florida's Medicaid program.

Why The Fight Over The $1 Trillion Coin Is The Most Important Fiscal Policy Debate You'll Ever See In Your Life  —  The campaign to circumvent the debt ceiling by having the Treasury mint a trillion dollar platinum coin continues to infiltrate the minds of elite thinkers in Washington.

My Successor?  Mayor Ponders Dream Choices  —  It has been a bedrock assumption of this year's race for New York City mayor: Michael R. Bloomberg and the muscular political operation that guided him to three electoral victories will coalesce around his favored candidate, Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker.

NOAA: 2012 Warmest Year On Record For U.S., Second Most Extreme Weather  —  It's official: 2012 was the warmest year on record for the contiguous United States and the second most extreme in terms of weather events, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) …

Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal Fire Back at ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ Investigation and Torture Debate  —  In accepting awards at the New York Film Critics Circle ceremony, the director and screenwriter addressed critics in Congress and the world of punditry.  —  As they received trophies in New York City …

Watchdog: Second VA official quits after wasteful conferences spotlighted  —  Another top Department of Veterans Affairs official has resigned in the wake of Inspector-General reports criticizing two “Patton parody” employee training conferences, The Washington Examiner

What Is Your Team Worth?  —  Never mind for a moment which college-football team is No. 1 on the field.  Is Texas losing its grip on being No. 1 at the bank?  —  According to an annual analysis of the values of college-football programs, Texas remains the most valuable team in the sport.

Holy Grail of Voters  —  Although independent voters have stolen the spotlight, people who describe themselves as moderates could be even more important.  —  After covering eight presidential and seven midterm election campaigns, I still manage to learn new things or come to view things differently.

Hagel and the Jews  —  A friend and admirer of Senator Hagel called the other day to ask whether we'd ever met the nominee to be secretary of defense.  We expressed our regrets that we hadn't.  Our friend wanted us to know that Mr. Hagel does not dislike the Jews.