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.

A judge in Connecticut today extended the time period 5 search warrants executed on the Lanza's home and cars will remain sealed. There were three search warrants for the house and two for cars.

[One was] for the 2010 Honda Civic Adam Lanza drove to the school and [the other was] for Nancy Lanza's 2009 silver BMW, which was parked in the garage attached to the home.

Why keep the search warrants sealed if no one is under criminal investigation? [More...]

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

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

The Journal News, a Westchester County, NY paper, has stirred a lot of outrage over its publication this week of a map with the names and home addresses of those with permits for handguns. The story's headline was "Where are the Guns in Your Neighborhood?" Here is the interactive map.

Since that's where I grew up, I went right to my old neighborhood and clicked on all the dots. While it brought a sense of nostalgia, it also felt like a complete privacy intrusion.

Are gun owners now going to be stigmatized like sex offenders?

The Journal News defends its publication decision here. [More...]

Is anyone watching CBS and the Kennedy Center Honors? Really great tribute to David Letterman. The event took place December 3. Also honored: Dustin Hoffman. And Led Zeppelin. Here's a recap.

The top news story of the day seems to be that DC police are investigating NBC's David Gregory for a show and tell of a high capacity ammunition clip magazine on Meet the Press. Apparently, NBC asked for permission to show the magazine and was denied. Under DC law, such magazines are illegal to possess.

On a related topic, this November, 2012 Congressional Research Service Report explains our current federal gun laws and recent legislative efforts to change them.

USA Today has released the results of a new poll conducted with Gallup on Americans' views on gun control.

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.

2 college bowl game picks - Boise (-6) over Washington and LA-Lafayette (-6) over East Carolina (4 units.)

Also too, Detroit Lions (+4) over Atlanta Falcons.

Open Thread.

Your turn.

President Obama just gave a press conference on the fiscal cliff. He says we need to find some common ground. He's met Republicans half-way.

"This is something within our capacity to solve....Call me a hopeless optimist, but I still think we can get this done."

He wishes everyone Merry Christmas and because Congress didn't get this done, he'll see us next week.

The first question from the media was about the NRA. (Then the video cut off.)