Republicans and Tea Party Activists in ‘Full Scale Civil War’ … Years of growing friction between the Republican Party leaders and its Tea Party faction has erupted into what one conservative said today was “full-scale civil war.”  —  House Speaker John Boehner, whose strategies …

Megyn Kelly: Jesus and Santa were white  —  On Wednesday night Megyn Kelly declared on her Fox News show that both Santa Claus and Jesus were white.  Discussing a piece in Slate by Aisha Harris about a black versus white Santa, Kelly that “just because it makes you feel uncomfortable it doesn't mean it has to change.”

Lie of the Year: ‘If you like your health care plan, you can keep it’  —  It was a catchy political pitch and a chance to calm nerves about his dramatic and complicated plan to bring historic change to America's health insurance system.  —  “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it …

Sign language ‘fake’ blames illness  —  Johannesburg - The man who has been blasted on social networks and accused of providing “fake” sign language interpretation at Nelson Mandela's memorial service says he suffered a schizophrenic episode.  —  Thamsanqa Jantjie said his schizophrenia …

Official who OK'd Obama birth papers dies in crash  —  One person is dead after a small plane crashed off the island of Molokai, Hawaii.  Officials say the other eight people on the plane survived.  (Dec. 12) AP  —  Hawaiian Health Director Loretta Fuddy was killed in a small plane crash off Hawaii.

Vermont Is Kicking Everyone's Ass at Signing Up People for Obamacare  —  Which states are doing the best at signing up people for Obamacare?  Business Insider has a state-by-state chart here showing the number of people who have completed the process 100 percent: they've actually chosen …

MISSING AMERICAN IN IRAN WAS ON UNAPPROVED MISSION  —  You are here  —  Home » United States government » Missing American in Iran was on unapproved mission  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — In March 2007, retired FBI agent Robert Levinson flew to Kish Island, an Iranian resort awash with tourists …

Obamacare exposes Republican hypocrisy on health care  —  Now that HealthCare.Gov is on a clear path to functionality, Republicans are having to come to terms with the fact that Obamacare will not conveniently collapse before anyone can purchase insurance.  If the law is going to fulfill …

Governors Spoke Privately About Bridge Controversy  —  Chris Christie Complained to Andrew Cuomo That His Appointee Was Pressing too Hard for Answers  —  New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo this week to complain about a Cuomo appointee's handling of a growing controversy …

BFP Breaking News- Omidyar's PayPal Corporation Said To Be Implicated in Withheld NSA Documents  —  The U.S. Government, An Implicated Billionaire, Fortune-Seeking Journalists & A Public in the Dark  —  Update 2:  —  Glenn Greenwald Goes on Record: “I Don't Doubt PayPal Cooperates with NSA!”

Exclusive: Chris Hayes attends secret union meeting with unhappy NBC workers  —  Amid workers alleging union-busting by an NBC Universal-owned company, MSNBC's prime-time host Chris Hayes recently met privately with a group of them to hear their concerns, according to several people present at the meeting.

Even by North Korean standards, this announcement of Jang Song Thaek's execution is intense  —  North Korean state media are known for hyperbole, but even so, the official announcement of the execution of Jang Song Thaek is a step beyond.  The state-run Korean Central News Agency released …

Mandela and the Question of Violence … I have the misfortune of being near the end of Tony Judt's Postwar at a moment when of the great figures of our history, Nelson Mandela, has passed.  Judt's gaze is relentless.  He rejects all grand narratives, skewers Utopianism (mostly in the form of Communism) …