COURT: OBAMA APPOINTMENTS ARE UNCONSTITUTIONAL  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama violated the Constitution when he bypassed the Senate to fill vacancies on a labor relations panel, a federal appeals court panel ruled Friday.  —  A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals …

U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss: Frustration with Washington drove him out  —  U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the leader of a bipartisan effort to address the federal deficit, this morning pointed to gridlock in Washington for his decision not to seek a third term in 2014.  —  A statement just released by his office includes this:

Is Hillary seeing double?  Daily News analysis points out the Secretary of State may suffer from vision impairments following a concussion and blood clot near her brain  —  A close inspection of Hillary Clinton's glasses worn during her Wednesday testimony on Benghazi shows an adhesive Fresnel prism …

Full text: Bobby Jindal's dynamite speech to the Republican National Committee in Charlotte … Below is the text of Gov. Bobby Jindal's full speech to the Republican National Committee in Charlotte, N.C. delivered Thursday night.  —  Thank you all for having me here tonight.

Jeb Bush and Clint Bolick: Solving the Immigration Puzzle  —  Some want illegals to return to their native countries and ‘wait in line’ like everyone else.  There is no line.  —  The nation's capital is awash with ideas about how to fix America's immigration policy.

Republicans in Virginia, other states seeking electoral college changes  —  Republicans in Virginia and a handful of other battleground states are pushing for far-reaching changes to the electoral college in an attempt to counter recent success by Democrats.

My God, Could This Be True?  —  Much like with Mitt Romney, it seems that Benjamin Netanyahu had no idea of the electoral drubbing headed his way, despite the fact that independent pollsters very much did see it coming.  Yes, you guessed it: Netanyahu's pollsters were apparently skewing his poll data.

Filibuster Reform Ends With A Whimper: How It Fell Apart  —  For true believers, filibuster reform was about making it painful, if not impossible, for a Senate minority to obstruct governance by the majority.  But it didn't come anywhere near that, leaving reformers deeply disappointed.

Reaffirmed: 4 Pinocchios for a misleading Mitt Romney ad on Chrysler and China  —  “Who will do more for the auto industry?  Not Barack Obama.  Fact checkers confirm that his attacks on Mitt Romney are false.  The truth?  Mitt Romney has a plan to help the auto industry.

Kerry Pledges To Confront Climate Change: ‘I Will Be A Passionate Advocate’ Of Action  —  At his confirmation hearing for Secretary of State, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) took a strong position on the urgent need for climate action.  —  Kerry's likely confirmation is good news for confronting climate change.

Exclusive: Billionaires secretly fund attacks on climate science  —  Audit trail reveals that donors linked to fossil fuel industry are backing global warming sceptics  —  NOTE: WE DO NOT STORE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS(ES) BUT YOUR IP ADDRESS WILL BE LOGGED TO PREVENT ABUSE OF THIS FEATURE.

Ex-Officer for C.I.A. Sentenced to 30 Months in Leak Case  —  ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The first Central Intelligence Agency officer to face prison for disclosing classified information, was sentenced on Friday to 30 months in prison by a judge at the federal courthouse here.

Comic book hero Judge Dredd ‘might be gay’  —  First picture of the latest edition of comic 2000 AD, titled Closet, shows Dredd kissing another man  —  NOTE: WE DO NOT STORE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS(ES) BUT YOUR IP ADDRESS WILL BE LOGGED TO PREVENT ABUSE OF THIS FEATURE.  PLEASE READ OUR LEGAL TERMS & POLICIES

UK heading for triple-dip recession as GDP shrinks 0.3% in fourth quarter  —  UK economy not expected to regain peak level for another two years - marking slowest recovery in a century  —  Britain could be on course for its third recession in four years after the economy shrank 0.3% in the last three months of 2012.

Mitt Romney in D.C. for weekend  —  Mitt Romney is in Washington for the weekend to attend a private luncheon with campaign supporters and the Alfalfa Club's annual dinner.  —  A senior aide from the campaign said: “Gov. Romney will attend a private lunch Friday at the J.W. Marriott co-hosted …

Lynch set to run for US Senate in special election  —  US Representative Stephen F. Lynch plans to announce next week that he will challenge his congressional colleague Edward J. Markey for the Democratic nomination in the special US Senate election to fill John F. Kerry's seat, according to people with direct knowledge of his decision.

Morrison Man Arrested For Possession Of Improvised Explosive Devices  —  DENVER - Richard Lawrence Sandberg, age 35, of Morrison, Colorado, was arrested this morning by Special Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), United States Attorney John Walsh …

Deficit Hawks Down  —  President Obama's second Inaugural Address offered a lot for progressives to like.  There was the spirited defense of gay rights; there was the equally spirited defense of the role of government, and, in particular, of the safety net provided by Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

How to Worry About the Deficit: (1) Don't; (2) Wait a Few Years; (3) Then Worry About Healthcare Costs  —  Today, there is no deficit crisis.  Tomorrow, there will be no deficit crisis.  But in ten years, we will have a massive problem of exploding health care costs.  Now that's a crisis to worry about.