Pelosi Dear Democratic Colleague on CRomnibus  —  It is clear from this recess on the floor that the Republicans don't have enough votes to pass the CRomnibus.  This increases our leverage to get two offensive provisions of the bill removed: the bank bailout and big money for campaigns provision.

Open Carry Activist Charged With Shooting Ex-Husband And Stepdaughter Dead  —  A woman charged with shooting and killing her ex-husband and stepdaughter has strong connections to groups advocating for expanding open carry gun laws in Texas.  —  Local news outlets on Wednesday reported …

Scott Rudin Apologizes After Leak Of Sony's Hacked Racially Insensitive E-Mails On Barack Obama  —  EXCLUSIVE: Producer Scott Rudin has issued a public apology for the racially insensitive comments that surfaced last night in an exchange of hacked private e-mails between him and Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman Amy Pascal.

Backers: Romney more open to 2016 run  —  He has sounded unimpressed with the emerging GOP field, associates say.  —  For most of the past year, Mitt Romney supporters have publicly said he should consider running again.  And for most of the past year, Romney has seemed uninterested.  —  Until recently.

C.I.A. Director Defends Use of Interrogation Tactics, Avoiding Issue of Torture  —  Brennan on Tactics and Finding Bin Laden Brennan on Tactics and Finding Bin Laden  —  John O. Brennan, the C.I.A. director, said that information obtained from detainees that were subjected …

Bill Cosby Drugged Me.  This Is My Story.  —  Like most Americans, I spent the 60s, 70s, and part of the 80s in awe of Bill Cosby and his total domination of popular culture.  He was the first African American to star in a dramatic television series, I Spy, a show my family in Buffalo, New York, always watched.

‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ character names revealed (in coolest way possible) — exclusive  —  We finally got to meet some new characters in the teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but now we're getting to put some names with the faces.  —  J.J. Abrams, the film's co-writer …

Sources: Leadership Promised to Pull Cromnibus  —  I'm hearing from two sources, including one Republican lawmaker, that Representative Marlin Stutzman (R., Ind.) provided one of the final, decisive votes needed to clear a crucial procedural hurdle because House leadership promised to pull …

And the Bum Steer of the Year Is . . .  Was 2014 the year of the Un-Bum Steer?  So many of our usual suspects behaved themselves (more or less) that we wondered if something was amiss.  Texas A&M didn't do anything too Aggie-like, the Dallas Cowboys were actually in the playoff hunt for a change …

Few See Quick Cure for Nation's Political Divisions  —  Large Majority Expects No Progress on Top Problems Facing U.S.  —  As 2014 draws to a close, the public is deeply pessimistic about the prospects for healing the nation's deep political divisions.  And most Americans …

Rick Perry: Presidential Campaign's ‘Not an IQ Test’  —  Texas Gov. Rick Perry says life experience is more important than book smarts in a president, telling NBC News he's not the same guy who ran in 2012.