A HEARTWARMING STORY: Man posts Craigslist ad for his 17-year-old Maxima that’s so good, Nissan buys the car.

TAXPROF: The IRS Scandal, Day 227.

FUNNY, MOST OF THE NEWS STORIES I SAW DIDN’T MENTION HIS POLITICAL PARTY: Democrat War on Women: “I got a boner when I walked into the office today when I saw you.”

PROF. JACOBSON: The Worst Twitter Day Of All Time. Plus: “She should have written it at Salon.com. No one would have noticed.”

Sort of relatedly, I notice that people seem to be in a particularly grumpy mood out there in general. Not as much holiday cheer as usual. Not sure why, but I hope people manage to brighten up. Sure, lots of things suck, but the world’s not such a bad place.

UPDATE: Tom Maguire emails with an explanation:

If libs are in a bad mood it is because not only has their President collapsed but sometime in the next few days they have to go home and deal with (or be!) PajamaBoy.

If a righty is in a bad mood it is probably because due to cracking a rib laughing so hard about, well, the collapse of the Presidency or dealing with PajamaBoy.

Heh.

SUNNI VS. SHIA in Pakistan.

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THE MAJESTY OF THE LAW: Cops, DHS Raid Strip Club . . . Over Unlicensed Sports Apparel. Homeland Security? Disband ’em, as they clearly don’t have enough to do.

MARK STEYN: The Age of Intolerance: The forces of “tolerance” are intolerant of anything less than full-blown celebratory approval.

Related: Ann Althouse: “I remember the broad 1960s era commitment to free speech. There was a special zeal to protect those who said outrageous things. Today, we’re back to the kind of repression that in the 60s seemed to belong to the 1950s. What the hell happened?” The Baby Boomers turned into The Man. Also, we don’t need an ostensibly-neutral ideal to shelter communists anymore.

PUSHBACK: Small biz group launches anti-Obamacare ad campaign targeting Sen. Mark Pryor in Arkansas.

The National Federation of Independent Business, which fought President Obama’s health care law all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, has launched an ad campaign in Arkansas, site of a closely-watched 2014 Senate race.

The ad, which features a small business owner discussing the burdens imposed by the law, is not so subtly aimed at Sen. Mark Pryor, the state’s Democratic senator who is at risk of losing his seat next year in large part due to his vote for Obamacare.

The NFIB, through its activist arm, the Voice of Free Enterprise, said it was putting $500,000 into the ad, which ends by encouraging Arkansans to call Pryor.

He deserves the heat.

CHANGE: Oil industry starts push to end ban on exports of crude oil.

The oil and gas industry is seizing on recent comments by Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to push for an end to the United States’ 40-year-old ban on crude oil exports.

The American Petroleum Institute says the U.S. energy boom has made the ban irrelevant, citing Energy Information Administration projections this week that domestic oil production would hit a near-record 9.5 million barrels per day by 2016.

“It is undeniable that the American energy revolution has rendered our energy export policies obsolete,” said Erik Milito, API’s upstream director.

The comments come after Moniz suggested that the U.S. should “relook” at the ban, which was imposed in response to the 1970s Arab oil embargo, which caused worldwide shortages.

Boy, the fracking revolution sure has changed things.

ROLL CALL: Landrieu Tops List of Democrats to Benefit From Baucus Exit.

President Barack Obama’s decision to tap Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., as ambassador to China is a political boon for Democrats trying to protect their vulnerable majority, but especially for Sen. Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana.

In the game of gavel dominoes that would be set off by Baucus vacating his chairmanship of the Finance Committee, Landrieu would likely ascend to the top of the Energy Committee, which could serve as a valuable tool in her tough 2014 re-election bid. The Louisiana Democrat, who often speaks of drilling issues on the Senate floor, would be in a position to team up with the panel’s top Republican, Lisa Murkowski of oil-rich Alaska, on various issues important to her state.

The committee shakeup was a hot topic of conversation when Baucus announced his retirement in April, but now there’s an added wrinkle and the Montana Democrat’s early departure could factor into 2014 politics. With gulf drilling issues key to voters back in Louisiana, the impact of Landrieu taking the energy panel’s gavel would be intensified.

Interesting. But what would Obama do on gulf drilling?

LOOKING BACK ON 2013: “This was the year that the whole world discovered that China was cyber enemy #1 … and then wondered if the NSA had surpassed that.”

DON’T WORRY, WE’VE GOT SMART DIPLOMACY^TM TAKING CARE OF THINGS: “Are we re-living the lead-up to World War One?”

REID: The Hill: Harry Reid: Boehner Will Cave On Immigration Next Year. “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) believes Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) will negotiate on comprehensive immigration reform next year, despite his declarations to the contrary. The Democratic leader argued that Boehner has a new willingness to confront Tea Party groups and this, in turn, gives Reid confidence that he will not have to break up the Senate immigration bill to negotiate a series of piecemeal reforms with the House.”

PENSION CRISIS: The Gathering Storm.

ADRIENNE ROYER: Why Duck Dynasty Threatens The Left. “The surprise should be how liberals dismissed the rise of Duck Dynasty until this fall, when it was too late to stem the show’s popularity. Once it became evident that this family held so much influence, the left suddenly realized they faced the first threat to their decades-long monopoly on popular culture.”

UPDATE: From the comments: “When Phil Robertson was 50 years old, the Congress and President of the United States signed a law in Defense of Marriage that refused to recognize gay marriage. Now A&E thinks that point of view is so awful that it cannot air someone who agreed with Bill Clinton.” Or Barack Obama, before 2012.

ANN ALTHOUSE: Widely held religious beliefs that you can’t talk about openly in America.

SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER: Missouri Patriots Rally at Claire McCaskill’s Office – Demand Apology For #Obamacare Lies (Video).

“WHAT A FUCKING DRAMA QUEEN:” Dan Savage.

BEWARE OF BOGUS DELIVERY EMAILS.

HERITAGE ON DUCK DYNASTY.

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A LOT OF PEOPLE LIKE THAT SHOW, AND WHEN YOU CAN’T EVEN HANG ON TO CAMILLE PAGLIA, ANDREW SULLIVAN, AND JON STEWART YOU’RE DOING BADLY: ‘Duck Dynasty’ Fallout: GLAAD Reeling From Biggest Backlash in Years, Says Rep.

Related: Phil Robertson Returning to Duck Dynasty Episodes on January 15th.

UPDATE: Cracker Barrel vs. Duck Dynasty. “That decision appears to be backfiring for now. Chick-fil-A may get a whole lot more business from enlightened rednecks who are angry at Cracker Barrel.”