Tomorrow I’ll switch to Christmas music and stick with it through Thursday. If you are feeling vaguely undersubscribed to the spirit of giving, please donate what you can afford to Washington Monthly today and you’ll feel better. Thank you!

Now here are some midday news/views items from the holiday smorgasbord:

* Bernie Kerik–remember him?–pens ludicrous screed on police protesters being as big a threat to America as terrorists.

* BuzzFeed strikes again: three pages of Rand Paul book copied from think tank material.

* 180: Sony to make “limited release” of The Interview on Christmas Day.

* At TNR, Claire Groden predicts pension-cutting municipal bankruptcies in Detroit and Stockton just the beginning.

* HHS reports 4.5 million renewals, 1.9 million new enrollees this year via federally-created exchanges.

And in non-political news:

* Dow tops 18,000 for first time.

As we break for lunch, here’s Hot Tuna performing “Water Song” in 1973.

Ed Kilgore

Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.