It’s admittedly excruciating to have to pay any attention to the Trump-moderated debate, but it will be interesting to watch which GOP candidates agree to participate and which bail.

So far, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are in, and Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman are out.

The rest, including Romney, Perry and Bachmann, have yet to say.

President Obama will appear in the White House briefing room shortly to make a statement on the payroll tax cut debate. Watch.

Here’s our latest on the current state of play.

Historic social upheaval. Global economic crisis. Out of control carbon emissions. Political revolution on a grand scale.

Meanwhile, the GOP presidential campaign has turned into an episode of The Apprentice, and Donald Trump continues to dabble in birtherism.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is by any reasonable measure a total mess and has been for years. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) is suggesting that ATF be eliminated and folded into the FBI. (It’s actually the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives now, a name change designed to protect its jurisdiction and turf, but ATFE doesn’t have the same ring to it.) Everyone who matters seems to agree on this point except ATF itself — and the NRA.

You might think that Islamist insurgency and the interim Somali government and free-form terrorist activities were enough to keep the notorious Somali Islamist group Al-Shabaab busy. But apparently not. At a recent conclave, Al-Shabaab bigwigs voted to undergo a major rebranding and possibly marketing campaign.

They’re changing their name from al-Shabaab to Imaarah Islamiyah (Islamic Authority).

Shabaab leader Mukhtaar Robow explained the name change with local media after the announcement was made. “Al-Shabaab means ‘youth’ but many of us, including the leaders, are very old so we want to change the name to Imaarah Islamiya,” said Robow, according to SomaliaReport.com.

This weekend’s Kennedy Center honors brought together quite a crowd: Glenn Close, Stephen Colbert, Sarah Jessica Parker, Neil Diamond, Robert De Niro, Yo-Yo Ma, and Smokey Robinson. Oh, and Newt.

NAACP: “In the face of far-reaching demographic and electoral trends revealing unprecedented minority political mobilization in America, an assault on voting rights accelerated in 2011.”

EPA and Army join forces on ‘net zero’ sustainability program.

Nancy Pelosi to TPM: “One of these days we’ll have a conversation about Newt Gingrich. I know a lot about him. I served on the investigative committee that investigated him, four of us locked in a room in an undisclosed location for a year. A thousand pages of his stuff.”

At this time of the year, lots of us start taking a closer look at the Intrade.com betting numbers. This is the site where people bet on who they think will win a certain question.

The current numbers for getting the nomination are 45.3% for Romney; 32.2% for Newt; and 6.2% for Huntsman. Ron Paul is at 5.1% and everyone else drops off from there. Read More