FROM THE BLOGS:

Senate Reform 101: The case against the constitutional option
Gregory Kroger at The Washington Monthly makes the case against senators changing their chamber's rules on the first legislative day of Congress.

The gun control bubble pops
Evidence suggests the White House has been trying to lower the bar on what it could achieve on gun reform, writes Jonathan S. Tobin at Commentary.

Through a glass darkly
Nobody seems to agree with what's wrong with "Zero Dark Thirty," David Cole writes at Foreign policy.

Fracking industry calls foul on EPA extension
Jillian Kay Melchior at The Corner reports on the Environmental Protection Agency extending its period for public comments on a new report on franking.

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

Senate Dems: We'll back Obama if he raises debt limit unilaterally
Senate Democrats say they will support President Obama if he decides to increase the debt limit unilaterally, reports The Hill's Alexander Bolton.

Kirsten Gillibrand and the Hagel lobby
Chuck Hagel, Obama's nominee for secretary of Defense, reached out to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand earlier in the week, according to Capital New York's Reid Pillifant.

FROM THE BLOGS:

Can Republicans win a government shutdown?
David Harsanyi at Human Events breaks down the politics of the upcoming budget battles.

New voices for the GOP in 2013
Ed Morrissey at The Fiscal Times looks at five candidates to shape the GOP in the coming year.

The facts on guns, schools, and violence
Nick Gillespie at Reason looks at the statistics behind the gun rights battle.

On spending, Obama doesn't get it
Tom Bevan at Real Clear Politics highlights Obama's recent remark that federal spending isn't a problem.

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

Pastor for Obama's inaugural drops out over anti-gay sermon
The Georgia-based pastor Louis Giglio will not deliver the benediction at President Obama's inauguration this month, reports Justin Sink.

Obama nominates 'low-key master of policy' Lew for Treasury
President Obama on Thursday officially nominated his Chief of Staff Jack Lew to be the next secretary of the Treasury, reports Erik Wasson.

FROM THE BLOGS:

Why is Congress so dumb?
Salon's Alex Pareene says the legislature spends more time hounding donors than researching the bills it votes on

A petty pick
National Review's Jonah Goldberg argues the selection of Chuck Hagel to lead the Defense Department is intended as payback to the right

Christie's explanation of functioning democracy
National Journal's Ron Fournier says the New Jersey governor has traction for 2016 because his rhetoric matches the times

Pastor to deliver Inaugural benediction delivered anti-gay sermon
Pastor Louie Giglio advocates "ex-gay" therapy and implores Christians to prevent the "homosexual lifestyle," reports Josh Israel for ThinkProgress

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

AIG's board opts against suing the federal government
The company was considering challenging the legality of the $182 billion bailout that saved it, reports The Hill's Peter Schroeder

White House won't deport Piers Morgan
The Obama administration cited the First Amendment in responding to a petition on its We the People website, The Hill's Alicia M. Cohn reports

FROM THE BLOGS:

Should President Obama announce no prioritizing payments in the debt ceiling, or start minting platinum coins daily?
Mike Konczal at his blog Rortybomb highlights a Bipartisan Policy Center report on the debt ceiling.

Hagel critics disingenuous anti-gay charge
Berin Szoka at RealClearPolitics calls it a "stretch" for the Log Cabin Republicans to oppose former Sen. Chuck Hagel's (R-Neb.) nomination as secretary of Defense.

Jack Lew's signature isn't terrible — it's awesome
J.K. Trotter welcomes the prospect of seeing the White House chief of staff's signature on dollar bills. Read his Atlantic Wire post here.

Hilda Solis resigns
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis told colleagues she is resigning from her post. Solis's departure makes her the fifth member to leave the Obama administration, according to Dave Weigel. 

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

Biden: Obama prepared to take executive action on gun control
President Obama will likely take executive action to reduce gun violence, Vice President Biden said Tuesday according to The Hill's Amie Parnes. 

Sen. Leahy turns down gavel for Defense spending subpanel
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) turned down the opportunity to chair a powerful subcommittee that handles defense spending, reports The Hill's Jeremy Herb.

FROM THE BLOGS:

Party on, New Yorkers
Teresa Mull at The American Spectator's Spectacle Blog highlights an investigation by the New York Post examining how welfare recipients in New York spend their money.

The $1 trillion platinum coin is horrible, lawless policy
At Mother Jones, Kevin Drum calls a proposal to mint a trillion-dollar coin a "ridiculous."

GOP disarray over debt ceiling
Republicans are starting to give mixed messages over how to proceed on the debt ceiling, writes Greg Sargent at The Plum Line.

10 Most popular White House petitions without response
Business Insider rounds up the 10 most popular petitions on the White House's "We The People" page to which President Obama has not responded.

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

Biden, NRA to meet on guns
Vice President Biden will meet with the National Rifle Association to discuss acting to prevent massacres like the one at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December, report The Hill's Justin Sink and Daniel Strauss.

Democrats blast AIG's 'outrageous' threat to sue feds over bailout
Democrats strongly criticized a possible lawsuit by American International Group (AIG) against the federal government over the 2008 bank bailout. The Hill's Vicki Needham has more.

FROM THE BLOGS:

Crime and economic inequality
Theoretical physicist Mark Buchanan tackles the link between crime and economic inequality in a piece for Bloomberg View.

Campus moneybag
National Review's Katrina Trinko points to college presidents' salaries to argue the Occupy movement would have been smarter to target higher education over Wall Street.

Why the GOP hates Chuck Hagel
Slate's Fred Kaplan says Republican objections to the former senator stem from proxy objections to President Obama, and a resistance to self-reflection on Iraq policy.

Obama's latest crony capitalist
Hit and Run's Ira Stoll says the president's economic policy results in a favored few earning economic breaks.

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

Supreme Court ruling allows stem-cell research to proceed
The justices' decision comes over the objections of abortion-rights opponents who equate research involving embryonic stem cells with murder, The Hill's Elise Viebeck reports.

Poll: Majority say Obama won 'fiscal cliff' negotiations
Fifty-seven percent said President Obama got more of what he wanted, to 20 percent who say the GOP came out ahead, The Hill's Jonathan Easley reports.

FROM THE BLOGS:

In Illinois, redefining marriage threatens marriage and religious freedom
New legislation legalizing gay marriage in Illinois "neither protects religious liberty nor treats marriage fairly," Ryan T. Anderson argues at The Foundry.

'Disciplinary fees' show the trouble with charter schools and privatization
At MSNBC's Lean Forward blog, Ned Resnikoff notes Chicago charter schools are making money "on the side" through "disciplinary fees."

Meet the bosses of the National Education Association
According to union filings for the U.S. Department of Labor, more than 400 National Education Association employees were paid over $100,000 from Sept. 2011 to Aug. 2012, according to Jason Hart at Redstate.

Oh yes, please! Please, please, please!
Tom Levenson of Balloon Juice welcomes the prospect of former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) serving as interim senator from Massachusetts.

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

House approves $9.7 billion in Sandy relief
The House approved $9.7 billion in funding for Sandy relief efforts, reports The Hill's Pete Kasperowicz.

Powerful Tea Party group's internal docs leak — read them here
Andy Kroll of Mother Jones gets his hands on internal documents from the Tea Party group FreedomWorks. Read Kroll's report here.

FROM THE BLOGS:

The GOP's Sandy problem
Daily Comment's Alex Koppleman argues that Republican opposition to the hurricane relief bill centers around characterizing necessary foresight as "pork."

Did conservatives lose the culture war?
The Week's Matt K. Lewis says conservatives must reconcile what appears to be an alarming loss on major cultural issues.

Joe Biden works the room
Talking Points Memo compiles a master cut of the vice president at the Senate swearing-in ceremony.

Can Obama be trusted on amnesty?
National Review's Mark Kirkorian argues the Obama administration's "contempt for law" suggests an amnesty compromise should not be trusted.

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

Failed coup effort against Boehner highlights House GOP divisions
The afternoon's tense vote underscored the divisions within the Republican Conference, The Hill's congressional team reports.

Google dodges antitrust lawsuit
The search engine giant agreed to a settlement with the FTC over fair-competition charges, The Hill's Brendan Sasso reports.

FROM THE BLOGS:

New Congress, same Republicans
The new House in the 113th Congress will be as useless as the last one was, argues The American Prospect's Jamelle Bouie.

The public won't force Congress to pass gun control
Even though the public is "more amenable" to new gun laws since the shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary, public opinion on gun rights has remained fairly constant according to recent polling, writes The New Republic's Nate Cohn.

President Obama, immigration czar
President Obama should probably explain what is within his power and what isn't in terms of making new immigration laws, Charles C. W. Cooke writes at National Review's The Corner blog.

Give up on the Constitution?
At Cato-at Liberty, Roger Pilon argues that, contrary to what Mike Seidman argues in a New York Times op-ed, James Madison would not have wanted the fiscal-cliff debate. 

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

Boehner reelected as Speaker; nine Republicans defect in vote
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) was reelected as House Speaker on Thursday with nine Republicans not voting for his reelection, reports The Hill's Pete Kasperowicz.

Democrats ready gun-control legislation that would ban high-capacity magazines
House Democrats are set to introduce new gun legislation in response to the Sandy Hook shooting. The Hill's Mike Lillis has more.