WHAT THE WORLD HAS BEEN WAITING FOR: Temperature-Resistant Chocolate. Haven’t they had “tropical blends” of chocolate for a while?

TRADING WITH THE ENEMY: House GOP In Pockets Of Big Media. You know, the same media that won the election for Obama.

More from Randy Barnett.

READER BOOK PLUG: Reader Robert Pearson asks me to plug WHO Won?!?: An Irreverent Look at the Oscars: 1927-1943. He writes: My friend Robert James, Ph. D., who discovered and helped publish Heinlein’s ‘lost’ novel For Us, the Living, has a great new book out, WHO Won?!?: An Irreverent Look at the Oscars: 1927-1943 (Volume 1). If you would care to plug it, would be much appreciated by him and the Heinleiner community.” Done!

46 LONG: Tennessee.

SO WHY DO men favor legalization of marijuana, while women oppose it? Is it just that men are more libertarian, and women more controlling?

“WE’RE ALL ADULTS HERE: IT’S TIME WE TAKE OUR FREEDOM BACK.”

BT: Never Gonna Come Back Down.

BALANCE: Chicago Tribune To Obama: Hey, What About Those Spending Cuts?

UPDATE: Okay, this is worth quoting:

As we’ve said before, we wish Obama would take the money Boehner offered and run. Republicans make a strong argument that increasing revenue by limiting deductions, rather than sharply hiking rates, would have less of an impact on economic growth.

Yes, Obama campaigned on those tax rate increases. But he campaigned just as fervently on the need for a “balanced” mix of revenue hikes and spending cuts. With his obsession on tax rates rather than on debt and entitlements, the president does not look focused on finding a two-party solution for crises that two parties created.

Americans who voted for Obama reflect that call for balance more than his ultimatums have: Politico reported Monday that a poll for a moderate Democratic think tank, Third Way, found 85 percent of Obama voters favoring higher taxes on the wealthy: “Yet 41 percent who supported the Democratic incumbent want to get control of the deficit mostly by cutting spending, with only some tax increases, while another 41 percent want to solve it mostly with tax increases and only some spending cuts. Just 5 percent of Obama supporters favor tax increases alone to solve the deficit, half the number who back an approach that relies entirely on spending cuts.”

What Americans see, though, is a White House offering essentially the same tax-centric budget that Obama proposed last winter, while Republicans have moved away from the no-new-revenue budget the House passed.

Instead, Boehner and other Republican leaders on Monday offered Obama a package similar to the deal the two men agreed upon, then scuttled, in mid-2011.

Obama isn’t interested in raising revenue so much as punishing high earners and humiliating the House GOP. Forward! to Revenge!

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: ObamaCare Jumps the Shark In Its Premiere. “One of the reasons blue programs jump the shark is that over time more and more special interests lobby politicians to get special features added. The small add-ons and tweaks make programs more expensive and complicated to administer—and much, much harder to reform. This process begins when the laws are written; the lobbyists are there to tuck special little surprises between the pages of the bill. It continues as the regulations necessary to implement the new laws are written; once again, lobbyists are on hand to mold the regs to their liking. And it persists year after year after year, as lobbyists look for ways to amend the existing laws or add new requirements by inserting language into other bills. This is happening as states develop the requirements for insurance under Obamacare.”

AT AMAZON: Top Holiday Deals: New Stuff Every Day.

Also, today only: 60% Off Select ALEX Toys.

IN LOS ANGELES, a “bloody hit & run epidemic.”

In the United States, 11 percent of vehicle collisions are hit-and-runs. But in Los Angeles, L.A. Weekly has learned, an incredible 48 percent of crashes were hit-and-runs in 2009, the most recent year for which complete statistics are available. According to data collected by the state, some 4,000 hit-and-run crashes a year inside L.A. city limits, including cases handled by LAPD, California Highway Patrol and the L.A. County Sheriff, resulted in injury and/or death. Of those, according to a federal study, about 100 pedestrians died; the number of motorists and bicyclists who die would push that toll even higher.

Don’t tell Bob Costas — he’ll want to ban cars.

LOOKS LIKE IT WAS PRETTY BIG: Pictures From Yesterday’s “Just Say No To ObamaCare” Rally in Nashville.

BOB OWENS ON MORE SWAT ABUSE IN MARYLAND.

UNDER THE RADAR: Obama Bypassing Congress On Guns?

PETER INGEMI: Building A False Narrative In Egypt.

ED MORRISSEY: It Was Clinton’s Spending Cuts — Not His Tax Hikes — That Worked.

ANY INSTAPUNDIT READERS LOOKING FOR A JOB? Mark Tapscott of the Washington Examiner emails:

The Washington Examiner seeks a data editor for its special reporting team. Must possess significant data analysis skills, be conversant with public policy issues and personalities across the ideological spectrum, and be able to locate and utilize documents, data sources and digital investigative tools quickly and confidently. Compensation commensurate with qualifications and experience. Email resume and clips to: . DO NOT CALL.

They’re good folks. Plus, in my experience, they pay promptly, which is nothing to be sneezed at, especially now!

CAMPAIGNING AS THEY GOVERN: Elizabeth Warren campaign in debt even after raising $42 million. “Even after raising a whopping $42 million for her Senate race this year – more than any other congressional candidate in the country – the senator-elect from Massachusetts told her supporters that her campaign does not have enough cash to pay its bills.”

CHANGE, INDEED. Right To Work Legislation Coming To . . . Michigan?

READER JOHN RINEHART EMAILS: “I seem to remember that for several years, right around Christmas, you would mention a brand of educational electronics kits. Now that our son is getting to that age, I can not for the life of me remember the name of your brand of choice. Can you re-mention them for us slow learners, so that this time we may take extra care to write down the information….and then lose the note we wrote it on?”

It’s the Snap Circuits toys. The SC-300 is a good starter; for older/smarter kids there’s the SC-500 and the SC-750. For little kids there’s the Snap Circuits Jr. They all get excellent reviews.

WHICH WILL MAYBE GET THE ATTENTION OF SOME OF THE PEOPLE WHO STAYED HOME IN 2012: Obama expected to push gun control in second term.

ROLL CALL: Democrats Divided Over Payroll Tax Cut Extension.

FORMER OFFICIALS: CIA Politicized The Intelligence On Benghazi.

INFLUENCE PEDDLING: The Hill: Obama-friendly business group given great White House access.