President Obama has renominated 33 of his federal judicial picks that Congress has failed to act on. What's Congress' problem?

Looks like Chuck Hagel will get the nod for Defense Secretary.

Cops and prosecutors need to stop hogging the DNA Codis databases so people wrongly convicted don't have to languish yet more years in prison. [More...]

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

BTD Go Gators! I actually think Florida is a great bet but I'm staying way, took under 48.

Happy New Year!

My bowl game picks for today:

Florida State -15 over Northern Illinois (6 units), Stanford -6 over Wisconsin (10 units), Georgia -9 over Nebraska (12 units), Purdue +17 over Oklahoma State, Northwestern -2 over Mississippi State, South Carolina -5 over Michigan.

Open Thread.

Colorado is ringing in the new year with marijuana social clubs, open only to members. The first is called, appropriately enough, Club 64 (After Amendment 64 which legalized marijuana in Colorado.) It opened today at 4:20 pm. You can apply for membership here.

Recreational marijuana clubs opened Monday in Colorado, less than a month after the state governor signed into law a constitutional amendment allowing recreational pot use.

With a reggae soundtrack and flashing disco-style lights, Club 64 in an industrial area just north of downtown Denver opened Monday afternoon, with some 200 people signed up. The opening came less than 24 hours after club organizers announced they would charge a $29.99 admission price for the bring-your-own pot club.

What do you think of the President Obama's Happy New Year photo the White House tweeted? I think it's dark and depressing.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

It will be a cold New Year's Eve in Colorado. I'm staying in. If you're out and about tonight, don't drink and drive -- the cops will be out en masse.

One innovative solution: Try Uber, if you live in Denver, Washington, San Francisco, New York, Philadelphia or several other major cities. You can download the app to your smart phone and sign up now. You just send a text-- they will see your location (or you can text it.) A private car will pick you up within minutes. Usually it's not much more than a taxi, but tonight surge pricing will be in effect. Before you text, you can see on your smart phone how close the drivers are to you and how many cars are near you. They text you as the driver is approaching. No need for a credit card or to sign anything with the driver, or tip, it's all just charged to the credit card you sign up with.

Update/1/1/13:: Check out their Tumblr page with photos from New Years' Eve of their staffers around the world with their Macs. The Stockholm office is beautiful. Miami ooks like such a happy place to work -- as does Seattle. The London group looks really busy. (I don't think these are all offices- some of the staffers seem to be working from home -- the Indonesia group looks like they are at a hotel bar.) Forbes today called them "brilliant." [More...]

Sending get well wishes to Hillary Clinton, who was admitted to the hospital today with a blood clot.

The night before New Year's Eve: What do you think the biggest changes will be in 2013? What are you hoping for?

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

5 bowl games today, my picks:

Rice +2 over Air Force, Syracuse +4 over West Virginia (4 units), Navy +14 over Arizona State, Oregon State -3½ over Texas, TCU -2 over Mich State.

Open Thread.

A couple of college football picks - Texas Tech (-13) over Minnesota (6 units) and Virginia Tech (pick) over Rutgers.

More tomorrow and the rest of the bowl season.

Open Thread.

No deal in sight for the Fiscal Cliff, says the AP.

Busy day, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

A very merry Christmas to all!

This is an open thread, all topics welcome -- from your family holiday traditions to cooking to politics.

Enjoy the day and your time with your families. Regardless of your religion, Christmas is a special holiday!

One the things I associate with Christmas is the feeling of joy. Watching Bruce and Jon Bon Jovi sing this song together is double joy -- their joy in singing with each other, and our joy at watching them. A great way to start the day.

If you have any suggestions for more joyous or fun Christmas songs for me to showcase in open threads through Christmas, please let me know. You can never have too much joy in your life.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

It wouldn't feel like Christmas without watching Darlene Love on Letterman.

The New York Post got punked on Ryan Lanza. Reporter Candice Giove chatted with an imposter on Facebook and thought he was really Ryan Lanza. Lots of other media sites from HuffPo to MediaIte to international papers ran with the story, before his family pointed out the obvious: it wasn't the real Ryan Lanza. Some giveaways: the photo of Adam, which as I pointed out here, is of Ryan and the poor spelling. Ryan's page was taken down by Dec. 15. If you log onto Facebook, you can see that His uncle's page and grandmother's page are still up but they haven't posted since the shootings. His cousin has posted a photo of himself with Nancy Lanza at a Red Sox game. (You can't see the pages without logging on to FB.)

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.