Boehner has been hearing it from both flanks of his caucus, with 151 members of his own party voting against the "fiscal cliff" deal, and Republican New York Reps. Peter King and Michael Grimm expressing outrage that Republican leadership failed to call a vote over Hurricane Sandy relief aid.

The Hill reported this morning:

Boehner could also face opposition from the four Republicans punished this month for bucking leadership. Reps. Justin Amash (Mich.), Tim Huelskamp (Kan.), Walter Jones (N.C.) and Dave Schweikert (Ariz.) were all stripped of their committee posts by the Boehner-led GOP Steering Committee, and they've been grumbling ever since.

There has been speculation that 17 Republicans could join forces and deny Boehner the majority he needs to become Speaker. House rules dictate that a lawmaker must receive a majority of the votes in order to get the Speaker's gavel. Republican lawmakers, including one who is not fond of Boehner, said no such effort is under way.

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This would be the same Christie who, in September 2012, headlined a fundraiser for Iowa congressman Steve King, who is not just one of the craziest members of the GOP crazy wing, but who also announced a month later that he probably wouldn't vote for relief money for Sandy victims for the same reason he refused to vote for federal aid for victims of Hurricane Katrina: Because he was pretty sure people spent the relief money on "Gucci bags and massage parlors." This is a man Christie wanted to win reelection, in order to help Republicans maintain control of the House of Representatives, so that they could continue ignoring the priorities and desperate needs of liberal, urban coastal states like New Jersey.

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Republican Rep. Peter King says the speaker will schedule a vote Friday for $9 billion in flood insurance and another on Jan. 15 for a remaining $51 billion in the package. The votes will be taken by the new Congress that will be sworn in Thursday.

Boehner's decision to cancel an expected vote Tuesday night had outraged lawmakers from New York, New Jersey and elsewhere, including many in his own party.

King said Boehner made the promise in a private meeting with lawmakers from affected states. King and others said they were now satisfied that the aid will be forthcoming.

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Christie was referring to a $60 billion funding package that would have gone to Hurricane relief efforts, which Republican leadership failed to bring to a vote before adjourning last night. "Last night politics was placed before our  oath to our citizens," Christie said. "For me, it was disappointing and disgusting to watch."

He added that Sandy victims in New York and New Jersey have had to wait six times longer for federal disaster relief funding than victims of Hurricane Katrina, which Christie said shows a "callous indifference to the suffering of people in my state." The bill, which passed out of the Senate, "just could not overcome the toxic internal politics of the House majority," Christie said.

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On Wednesday, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., excoriated John Boehner and House Republicans, calling it "absolutely disgraceful" and saying that "my world turned upside down last night."

"People in my party, they wonder why they're becoming a minority party," King said on CNN. "They're writing off New York, they're writing off New Jersey. Well, they've written me off, and they're gonna have a hard time getting my vote, I can tell you that."

King added that "anyone from New York or New Jersey who contributes one penny to the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee should have their head examined."

Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., said he was "utterly devastated" by the decision, and called it "beyond surprising" that the House adjourned without a vote. He said it was ultimately House Speaker John Boehner's call to adjourn without a vote, and that he had received signals from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor that the vote would happen.

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Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said he was told by the office of Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia that Speaker John Boehner of Ohio had decided to abandon a vote this session.

Cantor, who sets the House schedule, did not immediately comment. House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland told reporters that just before Tuesday evening's vote on "fiscal cliff" legislation, Cantor told him that he was "99.9 percent confident that this bill would be on the floor, and that's what he wanted."

A spokesman for Boehner, Michael Steel said, "The speaker is committed to getting this bill passed this month."

In remarks on the House floor, King called the decision "absolutely inexcusable, absolutely indefensible. We cannot just walk away from our responsibilities."

The Senate approved a $60.4 billion measure Friday to help with recovery from the October storm that devastated parts of New York, New Jersey and nearby states. The House Appropriations Committee has drafted a smaller, $27 billion measure, and a vote had been expected before Congress' term ends Thursday at noon.

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If Sandy – and this summer’s record US heat wave – end up blowing Obama back into the White House with enough wind in his sails to persuade him to make climate change a winning issue, it really could have positive global consequences. If not, I shudder to think what scale of apocalyptic disaster will be needed to destroy the political cowardice among world leaders that is stoking the ever greater climate change storms of the future.

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After years of playing coy, the dapper newsman Anderson Cooper finally officially came out of the closet in an open letter to Daily Beast writer Andrew Sullivan on July 2. But though it came as zero surprise, a few remained undeterred by the news.

I don't care, I'm still gonna make a run at Anderson Cooper. —Mindy Kaling (@mindykaling) July 2, 2012

 

When Aetna informed doctoral student Arijit Guha, just as he was in the midst of stage-4 colon cancer, that he'd reached his insurance coverage cap, the 31-year-old took his story to Twitter and found himself engaged in a public conversation with his insurer's CEO, Mark T. Bertolini. He wound up getting full coverage – and making the debate over health care intimate and urgent.

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This past year's weather was deadly, costly and record-breaking everywhere - but especially in the United States.

If that sounds familiar, it should. The previous year also was one for the record books.

"We've had two years now of some angry events," said Deke Arndt, U.S. National Climatic Data Center monitoring chief. "I'm hoping that 2013 is really boring."

In 2012 many of the warnings scientists have made about global warming went from dry studies in scientific journals to real-life video played before our eyes: Record melting of the ice in the Arctic Ocean. U.S. cities baking at 95 degrees or hotter. Widespread drought. Flooding. Storm surge inundating swaths of New York City.

All of that was predicted years ago by climate scientists and all of that happened in 2012.

"What was predicted was there would be more of these things," said Michel Jarraud, secretary general for the World Meteorological Organization.

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Here, the highlights:

Chris Martin got a surprise, when Michael Stipe popped in for a duet:  "Losing My Religion."

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Today’s ADP report provides a preliminary glance.  The payroll firm reported 118,000 jobs created in the private sector last month, down from 158,000 in October.

Moody’s.com guesstimated that Sandy led to 86,000 fewer jobs in November.  Since the ADP reports job gains by firm size, one indicator of Sandy’s impact can be seen in the sharper deceleration last month of job growth at smaller firms, which are more likely to be shut down by the storm than larger firms.

The BLS payroll survey–the official employment metric out Friday–asks employers to report their payrolls as of the middle of the month.   The fact that many businesses were closed due to the damage from the storm is expected to lower jobs numbers for November and possibly later months as well.  From the Bureau:

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Despite that, cell carriers have successfully pushed back against rules on what they have to do in a disaster. The carriers instead insist that emergency standards should be voluntary, an approach the Federal Communications Commission has gone along with.

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Meanwhile, as President Obama is pushing to include new infrastructure spending in a deal to avert the fiscal cliff in Washington, 72 percent of New Yorkers favor “a major infrastructure project that would seek to protect New York City from future dramatic weather events.” New York residents also gave strong marks Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Obama, and FEMA  for their handling of the storm response, the poll found.

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The Park Slope Food Co-op had to close October 29th and half of the day October 30th because of Hurricane Sandy. The co-op, with their typically unyielding policies, never let their 15,000+ members know that because they were unable to work those shifts they are now all on something called, “alert.” This means the clock is ticking for them as they all face suspensions if their shift isn’t made up within the next 10 days. If members cannot make this happen they should speak to the office right away to ask for clemency. The idea is to enact fair and just standards for all. Okay, if you say so.

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Disregard for the inmates ahead of the storm has turned to reliance in its wake. The New York Times called Rikers inmates "unsung heroes" of Sandy's relief -- prisoners who work at the Rikers laundry center for 39 cents an hour added extra loads to their work to clean blankets and sheets for the city's overloaded shelters.

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Occupy Sandy’s story began in the hours just after the superstorm hit, when “a few of us occupiers were just texting each other at like 2 a.m. seeing how we could help,” recalls Bre Lembitz. A lanky 22-year-old whose blond curls are shaved close on one side of her head, Lambitz suggested bringing meals to the shore, and “everyone was totally down to do relief work.” So the next morning, she and a few others from Occupy Wall Street created an Occupy Sandy Twitter account and Facebook page, and headed down to Breezy Point with hot food, though they didn’t mention their affiliation to the residents of the relatively conservative community at the time. “It felt like people might not trust us to eat the food,” says Lambitz. “It was about helping the people—not pushing occupy values.”

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The 50-year-old Republican filed papers with election officials Monday cementing his intention to seek a second term, according to two people close to the governor. The technical step allows Christie to set up a campaign headquarters, hire staff and raise money toward his re-election, said the people, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak before the governor makes a formal announcement in a few weeks.

Christie carried the Democratic-leaning state by 86,000 votes in 2009, an upset win over Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine.

Christie, who has become a national figure during his first term, is riding an unprecedented wave of popularity because of how he handled the storm. Even Democrats have applauded his hands-on response. He appeared on "Saturday Night Live" in his trademark fleece pullover this month to lampoon his own nationally televised storm briefings.

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