TODAY ONLY, 50-70% off on select electronics accessories. Including a prepaid mobile 3G/wifi hotspot for $49.99.

UPDATE: First link was bad before. Fixed now. Sorry!

JENNIFER RUBIN: Media Mishaps. “In covering events leading up to the Republican primaries, many in the media missed the boat by paying attention to the wrong things.”

#GOPFAIL? Despite GOP opposition, light bulb standards will phase in on Jan. 1. “New light bulb efficiency standards will begin phasing in on Jan. 1 despite intense opposition from conservatives, who have blasted the rules as a textbook unnecessary federal regulation. While Republicans secured inclusion of a measure blocking funding for enforcement of the standards in a year-end spending bill, energy efficiency groups say the provision will have little practical impact. The Energy Department rules will nonetheless go into effect at the start of 2012.”

Well, it’s not (quite) too late to stock up! (Bumped).

MORE ON ERIC HOLDER’S CHUTZPAH: “Either Holder is dumb as a stump or he is setting himself up to be the most courageous Washington fall guy since G. Gordon Liddy, and since I can’t imagine Eric Holder holding his hand over a fire just to show people how tough he is, I know which way I’m betting.”

Meanwhile, some Eric Holder history.

JOHN STOSSEL: A Libertarian Year Ahead?

CONN CARROLL: Jobless Claims Up, But That’s Not What Matters: “In a normal economic recovery, new firm and job creation are higher than recession levels. That is not the case in the Obama recovery. While job losses have slowed, job creation has not picked up.” I’m not so sure that it’s a recovery at all.

EGYPT: A depressing, but not surprising, report.

REPORT: “The sheer number of Republican yard signs in New Hampshire is staggering.”

THE HILL: Pelosi’s office denies report that she wants to retire from Congress. “An aide to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is strongly denying a claim from her daughter that she is only staying in office because of her political donors. Pelosi’s daughter Alexandra Pelosi told the conservative site Big Government that the former Speaker wants to retire from Congress but has faced pressure from campaign contributors to continue serving.”

I think I believe the daughter.

RANDY BARNETT likes Pauline Maier’s book, Ratification. “Having read much of the surviving records of the ratification convention debates, I probably know more about these conventions than most people. Yet there was far more in Maeir’s book that I did not know than I did.”

HOPE AND CHANGE! An Election Year Dawns Without Keith Olbermann. I did his show on election night 2004, back before he went insane.

A GRIM FOURTH QUARTER FOR CORPORATE EARNINGS? “The number of companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index that have made downward profit revisions is at a level not seen since the 2001 economic recession, making sell-side analyst projections look rosy.”

CHANGE: As The Age Of The Physical Book Retreats, The Cult Of The Physical Book Advances.

SUMMARIZING 2011 in Nine Easy Charts.

EUROPE: Eurozone credit crunch fears on M3 money contraction. “Europe is at mounting risk of a fresh credit crunch after the eurozone money supply contracted for a second month in November and the volume of private loans began to shrink.”

#OCCUPYFAIL: Little Change in Public’s Response to ‘Capitalism,’ ‘Socialism.’ 60% don’t like socialism.

LOVE IN A TOTALITARIAN CLIMATE: 9-Foot-Tall Supersoldier Mourns Kim Jong Il.

MICKEY KAUS: This is the argument against Perry and Santorum?

MITT ROMNEY: President Obama Out Of Touch Like Marie Antoinette. “When the president’s characterization of our economy was, ‘It could be worse,’ it reminded me of Marie Antoinette: ‘Let them eat cake.’ . . . This is not a time to be talking about, ‘It could be worse.’ It’s a time to recognize that things should be better.”

TEN YEARS AGO ON INSTAPUNDIT: Mocking Cornel West’s lame rap CD.

SOME blogger pushback.

#WORDPRESSFAIL: WordPress Takes Down “Bare Naked Islam” Blog After Threats From CAIR.

CAIR pursues this strategy regularly. Shame on WordPress for giving in. Note to bloggers: In a free-speech controversy, you can’t count on WordPress. Act accordingly. Meanwhile, an item on CAIR’s terrorist ties. More here. And its membership is minuscule. This is who you listened to, WordPress.

THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN . . . OH, HELL, YOU KNOW THE REST: The White House Just Agreed To Sell Saudi Arabia The Largest US Overseas Arms Package Ever.

SPENGLER: Ron Paul’s Defense of Iran Should Surprise No One.

KISSING AT MIDNIGHT: A history of the New Year’s Eve kiss.