F.   SCOTT FITZGERALD is credited with saying that there are “no second acts in American life.” Given his druthers, Mitt Romney would turn that misguided vision into policy. During Monday’s GOP presidential debate, Mr. Romney at times smugly touted his belief that the voting rights of defendants convicted of violent crimes should not be restored — even if they have served the requisite time behind bars and stayed on the right side of the law after release. “I’m not letting felons who had committed violent crimes to vote,” Mr. Romney said. “I think it’s a position that’s reasonable, and that’s the position I’ve got.” Read full article > >

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Editorial Board: Mitt Romney’s unjust position on voting rights

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Patriots have Tom Brady , a three-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback. They have Wes Welker, an uncanny wide receiver who led the NFL in catches. They have a pair of tight ends — Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez — who are all but changing the way their position is played, particularly in tandem. And they have a resume — the top seed in the AFC, eight straight wins to close out the regular season, a 45-10 annihilation of Denver to open the playoffs — that would suggest they should be the favorites to win the Super Bowl. Read full article > >

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NFL playoffs 2012: New England Patriots say their defense is peaking at the right time

Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Raheem Morris has agreed to join the Washington Redskins staff as a defensive backs coach, a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed Wednesday evening. Morris’ hiring comes less than two weeks after Tampa Bay fired him and exactly a week after he met with Redskins’ brass about the position. Read full article > >

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Redskins hire Raheem Morris to be defensive backs coach

At the GOP debate in Sioux City, Iowa, Newt Gingrich defended his pro-life record , declaring, “I believe that life begins at conception” and stating that embryos at fertility clinics “should be considered life because by definition they’ve been conceived. I am against any kind of experimentation on embryos. And I think my position on life has been very clear and very consistent.” Read full article > >

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Gingrich’s abortion contortions

Big news is shaking up health policy circles just before the Thanksgiving holiday: Medicare administrator Don Berwick has stepped down from his position, effective next Friday, according to an e-mail sent to agency staff this morning. The White House intends to appoint Marilyn Tavenner, currently second-in-command at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as Berwick’s replacement. Read full article > >

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CMS administrator Don Berwick steps down

Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain faced a new set of political challenges Monday after graphic allegations by a Chicago woman raised questions among GOP operatives and activists about the candidate’s ability to survive the growing scandal. After eight days of accusations and denials of alleged sexual harassment by Cain, the specific and explicit nature of the new allegations could threaten his position among a core group of supporters who have stood by him, or at least stayed silent. Read full article > >

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Can Herman Cain’s campaign weather latest sexual harassment allegations?

BOGOTA, Colombia — The bookish communist intellectual who led the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, one of the world’s oldest insurgent groups, was killed Friday in a military strike in the biggest blow against that organization in its 47-year history. Guillermo Saenz Vargas, who was better known to Colombians and American military advisers by the nom de guerre Alfonso Cano, was shot in a firefight with Colombian security forces during an operation in which the military bombed his position and deployed elite commandos, military officials said early Saturday morning. Read full article > >

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Alfonso Cano, leader of Colombia’s FARC rebels, killed in raid

Northern Ireland manager Nigel Worthington is to step down from his position after Tuesday night’s Euro 2012 qualifier against Italy.

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Worthington steps down as NI boss

Few issues test Supreme Court justices like trying to find the proper boundary between church and state. And that difficulty was again on display Wednesday as they considered whether a former teacher at a church school could pursue her claim that she was fired after becoming ill. Only Justice Antonin Scalia seemed completely sure of the answer, repeatedly taking the position that a church’s personnel decisions about those who serve in ministerial positions are off limits to government inquiry. Read full article > >

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Supreme Court debates church and state boundary in fired teacher’s case

Carol Bartz, the former Yahoo chief executive who was ousted from her position Tuesday, has given her first post-firing interview to Fortune — and it’s a doozy. Using her characteristically salty language, Bartz described how she felt about being fired from the position she’d held since 2009. In her words, “These people [expletive] me over.” The printable translation: She was none too happy being dismissed over the phone with a lawyer’s script, then given two hours to decide whether to resign or have the board fire her. That much had been apparent from the quick e-mail she fired off to all Yahoo staff, which heavily implied that she thought she deserved better treatment. Read full article > >

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Carol Bartz lashes out at Yahoo board

How will Rick Perry do in tonight’s presidential debate? Mitt Romney likes to call Perry a “ career politician ” — which means he has been in plenty of opportunities to debate during his long political career.  According to the Austin American-Statesman , he has had five debates as Texas governor and “in each case [Perry] has entered and exited the favorite — ‘no knockout blows’ is a line often used in next-day news coverage.”     The best way to preview how Perry might perform tonight is to watch some of the highlights of his two most recent debates, which took place last year during the 2010 Republican gubernatorial primary. (Perry did not debate his eventual Democratic opponent in the general election.)  I’ve posted the videos below.  Because these debates are so recent, many of the issues that Perry’s Republican opponents raise here are the same ones his Republican opponents might raise tonight — including his jobs record in Texas; his position on immigration and border security; his governor’s enterprise fund; and allegations that he raised taxes and supported the Troubled Assets Relief Program. Perry answers these charges and levels a few of his own.  Read full article > >

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Can Perry debate? Watch some clips from his past.

As rebels solidify their position in Tripoli and appear to be consolidating their victory over the 42-year dictatorship of Moammar Gadhafi, it’s time to reflect on the significance of what just happened.

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Opinion: U.S. role made a difference

Will Alec Baldwin’s next act after 30 Rock be one of political theater? A friend tells The Daily that the actor is considering running for mayor of New York, with Anthony Weiner’s Twitter scandal knocking the congressman out of his position as…

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Alec Baldwin Could Run for NYC Mayor

Marine Gen. James E. Cartwright, who was a front-runner to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was told by President Obama over the weekend that he is no longer being considered for the position, U.S. officials said Tuesday. The president could announce a replacement for Adm. Mike Mullen, who is in the final months of a four-year assignment as chairman, as soon as next week, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to talk about internal administration discussions. Read full article > >

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Obama passes over favorite for military’s top job

Yemen is seeing its most violent clashes yet, a day after President Ali Abdullah Saleh refused to sign a brokered deal to step down from his position of power with immunity. Though previous clashes have resulted in more deaths, government officials and…

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Violence Surges in Yemen