Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was a guest on On The Record last night to discuss why his vote will not be easy to win on any fiscal cliff deal. But he kind of went overboard (if you’ll pardon the pun) when he likened allowing the expiration of Bush tax cuts to “a policy of drowning.”

I’ve long said that whatever Sean Hannity complains about others doing is a big tell that that’s what he’s about to do. Last night’s lengthy whine session about the “fiscal cliff” is a perfect example. He began the lengthy commentary with an attack on President Obama for “hoping” the U.S. will go over the fiscal cliff. Then, a few minutes later, Hannity urged two Republican Congressmen not to “cave” even though that means – yep, going over the cliff.

Birther Boy Donald Trump was back on On The Record last night with some new advice for Republicans on the so-called “fiscal cliff.” But he also wants you to know that if only the Republicans had listened to his advice in the first place, they would have won the election.

In the bizarro, alternate reality of the religious right, any American tragedy is caused by a wrathful god who is angry about American tolerance (such as it is) of gays. 9/11? Jerry Falwell blamed it on the gays! Katrina? John Hagee blamed it on the gays! And now that yet another mentally disturbed young American psychopath has used personal weapons of mass destruction to efficiently kill school children and their teachers, the religious right is blaming it on - no, not on American gun culture and the easy availability of weapons for those with mental health issues -  but godless Americans and - wait for it - gays. As we know, Mike Huckabee is reluctant to discuss the role of guns and mental health in this tragedy, but he has been doing a lot of whining about godless Americans whom he also blamed for the Aurora shooting. And he has also "joined the looney gays caused Newtown" bandwagon. Are we suprised?

Arthel Neville put together a roundup of the "most scandalous stories" of 2012. For some reason, she included Herman Cain. Not that Cain didn't deserve to be included but she sanitized the Cain scandal to the point that you might not have recognized it.

On Fox & Friends this morning, they made a big deal out of pointing out that Hawaii’s Democratic Governor Neil Abercrombie overruled the wishes of recently-deceased Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI) in appointing Lieutenant Governor Brian Schatz to replace Inouye in the U.S. Senate. Inouye had requested Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-HI) as his successor. Fox News producers repeatedly hyped “LAST WISH IGNORED,” as the banner on the screen put it, but nobody bothered to explain the smart Democratic strategy behind Ambercrombie's decision.

Just when you think that Fr. Jonathan Morris is the only game in town, think again. In the spirit of diversity, the "fair & balanced" Fox News hosted, on Christmas Eve, two non-Catholic clergy men who spoke about the importance of faith. But just when you start thinking that Fox News might actually be attempting to be more religiously inclusive, think again. In the spirit of hard core, conservative theology, these two men of the cloth were not from the mainline American faith community. Rather, Rabbi Aryah Spero and Rev. Robert Jeffress represent religious and political views that are part of a radical right wing that, with the support of Fox News, seeks to spread its toxicity to a country that doesn't embrace theological world views which demonize the President, gays, and Muslims. But in the spirit of Christmas, birther Heather Childers warmly welcomed the aforementioned men to speak about the importance of religion. Ironic, don't ya think!

Fox News has taken a sudden interest in environmentalism – now that the culprits are wind farms. In a recent article, FoxNews.com laments the “grizzly deaths of nearly 500 songbirds” at the hands of a wind farm in West Virginia. Even though facts show that far, far more birds die from oil pits, coal development, and climate change.

On Your World last week (12/20/12), Neil Cavuto hosted KT McFarland (Roger Ailes' proxy in his failed attempt to recruit General David Petraeus as a 2012 presidential candidate) to discuss Congressional hearings on Benghazi. Predictably, McFarland joined the rest of the Fox Newsies in making it all about the Obama administration and/or potential 2016 Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton (while pretending it’s all about dead Americans). Her head seemed about to explode as she accused the Obama administration of “sending a message” to Al Qaeda, to “come get us again.” There was almost no challenge from Cavuto.

On Saturday’s Forbes on Fox (12/22/12), David Asman crowed about how he and his panel “all agree” that the “solution” to pension problems is to privatize them. Oh, they didn’t use the word “privatize.” Instead, they talked up switching from pension plans to 401(k)s.