Bob Cesca

Managing Editor for The Daily Banter, Host of The Bob & Chez Show

It's weird how Republicans seem to love the Democratic parts of the health care law but aren't so keen on the Republican parts of the law. But I suppose that's where guys like Hannity come in: to twist and distort reality so that these uncomfortable and irritating truths don't get injected into his audience's epistemic bubble.

Valerie Alexander

Author, 'Happiness as a Second Language'

Choose the man who will take care of the laundry and change the baby's diapers when you've got the flu, rather than the one who spent a month choreographing his proposal so that the video of it would go viral.

Bill Moyers and Michael Winship

This grim anniversary of the Newtown, Conn., killings, with 28 dead, reminded us of that moment back in 2000 when Charlton Heston made his defiant boast at the NRA convention that gun control advocates would have to pry his rifle from his "cold, dead hands."

Grace Buchele

Blogger, howibecametexan.com

As the "white" half of a Japanese-American couple, I noticed some of the same questions keep popping up again and again. After a quick chat with some other interracial couples, I realized my experiences were not unique.

Mohamed A. El-Erian

CEO and co-CIO, PIMCO

Investors have responded favorably to the outcome of today's highly-anticipated Federal Reserve policy meeting, and rightly so. Here are four key takeaways that speak to more than this afternoon's impressive market moves; they also shed light on what may be ahead.

Soraya Chemaly

Feminist, Writer, Satirist... not always in that order

He is endearing and he's 6 and "boys will be boys." But, the girl he kissed without permission is also probably endearing, also 6 and not interested in his touching her. The hard and unpleasant part is the idea that her right not to be involved in his working through learning self-control is legitimate.

Lori Ferraro

Writer and actor

They say that when you have kids you get to relive the magic of the holidays all over again, see Christmas through their eyes. I suppose that's true -- to an extent.

Arianna Huffington

With the holidays almost here, Cindi Leive, Mika Brzezinski and I have decided that there is no better time to unplug, recharge and renew ourselves in time for the new year. And what better way to do that than by unplugging and disconnecting from all our devices?

Claire Fallon

Deputy Blog Editor, The Huffington Post

Who taught me to be confident, brave, and self-sufficient? Alanna the Lioness, Lyra Belacqua, Jo March and many other YA heroines who refused to let gender roles hold them back.

Michelangelo Signorile

Editor-at-large, HuffPost Gay Voices

Little boys and girls in Catholic schools all across the world are still being taught that homosexuality is "intrinsically disordered." And Catholic teachers have been removed from jobs simply for exercising their rights as gay Americans. I haven't heard the pope weigh in or stop it, while many other people are actually fighting the fight for them.

Ethan Nadelmann

Executive Director, Drug Policy Alliance

I'm not one to use the term "tipping point" lightly, because one can only say you've hit it so many times before losing one's credibility, but I do think we've hit the tipping point on marijuana legalization -- for three reasons.

Dan Lyons

Marketing fellow at HubSpot and creator of 'The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs'

In public, Apple's rivals in the smartphone market have tried to downplay the technological advances Apple introduced in the iPhone 5s. But it turns out that one breakthrough -- Apple's speedy, 64-bit A7 microprocessor -- has set off a panic inside its competitors.

Patrice Bendig

www.patricebendig.com

This past week, I witnessed a true Christmas miracle in the early hours of Dec. 12. 2013 come true for a seven-year old little boy, right on 34th Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Anthony D. Romero

Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union

For his actions, Snowden should be applauded, not vilified. He should be granted full immunity from prosecution. And he should be allowed to resume his life in the United States as a proud American citizen.

Stacie Krajchir

Author, Founder The See and Sprout Project

The reality is, motherhood is, while blissful, downright scary and beyond overwhelming -- especially after 40.

Daphne Eviatar

Senior Counsel, Law and Security Program, Human Rights First

When Col. John Bogdan took the witness stand at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, he'd been called to testify about the strict limits he's imposed on defense attorneys' visits with their death penalty clients. The attorneys representing the defendants accused of masterminding the 9/11 terrorist attacks claim his rules make their jobs unreasonably onerous.

Jim Sleeper

Lecturer in Political Science, Yale University

What makes the column still more revealing and sad is that, far from serving up an older but wiser man's humility, it recycles what Brooks has been saying quite often since even when he was younger and, one might have hoped, less cynical.

Karl Gude

Creative process & visual storytelling instructor at Michigan State University. Former InfoGraphics Director at Newsweek and The Associated Press.

"Sorry, as a magazine editor, I know what it's like to flip through dozens of shots to find the right one. And, do you know what gets my e-mail gong? "That shot, her lipstick is smudged. Her shirt is wrinkled."

BritChick Paris

British girl living the Parisian life with all its highs and lows

Flick through any magazine, TV station or website this Christmas and the messages are mostly about perfection. How to get the perfect skin, body, clothes, relationship... life. But underlying all of it is that your life isn't good enough, you're not good enough.

Benjamin Hart

Huffington Post Front-Page Editor

Do you watch the currently popular prestige drama that everyone's always talking about? Oh, you're still catching up. Where are you? Only on season two? Man. Wait til you get to season three. Season three is definitely the best.

Mike Lux

Co-Founder, Democracy Partners

The arrogance of people like Jamie Dimon deserves mockery, and the lack of tough accountability coming from the Department of Justice deserve mockery, so that is what we are offering up.

G. Elijah Dann

Ph.D.; Th.D.; Philosophy & Religion, Simon Fraser University, Author

Was Hitchens' incredulity acerbic and coarse? Irreverent and obscene? Depends on your tastes and sensitivities. More importantly, these qualities were imbedded in charm and wit that set up the discussion of religion in a way that awoke our reflective capacities.

Ralph Nader

Consumer advocate, lawyer and author

As millions of Americans struggle with inadequate health care, low wages, deteriorating public services and uncertainty about their futures as the wage gap between the wealthy elite and the working poor widens, billions upon billions of taxpayer dollars are pouring into the coffers of the Department of Defense every year.

DJ Louie XIV

DJ

It is its specificity of purpose -- lyrically, sonically and artistically mining what it means to be Beyonce -- that makes BEYONCE such stirring success. The disciplined commitment to following her own muse coupled with her mammoth natural talents mark her as the most important mainstream pop artist working today.

Bernard-Henri Lévy

French philosopher and writer

It is impossible to predict what the situation in Ukraine will be by the time these lines appear. Already certain, however, is that the events of the past month are extraordinary in every respect.

Zach Wahls

National marriage equality advocate; Spokesman, Scouts for Equality; Author, 'My Two Moms: Lessons of Love, Strength, and What Makes a Family'

I've been thinking about grace a lot lately. I think you're supposed to think about grace during the holidays. I'm thinking about it because I've had a really rough last two and a half months and grace feels like the hardest thing in the world to find right now.

Michael Moore

Oscar and Emmy-winning Director

It is, to say the least, a huge honor that for me ranks right up there with the Oscar and the Palme d'Or at Cannes. The National Film Registry is a slightly rarefied list of movies in the history of cinema.

Norman Solomon

Author, 'War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death'

News media should illuminate conflicts of interest, not embody them. But the owner of the Washington Post is now doing big business with the Central Intelligence Agency, while readers of the newspaper's CIA coverage are left in the dark.

Philip Radford

Executive Director, Greenpeace

Make no mistake: Here in D.C., the secret political contributions from the 1 percent of the 1 percent of the 1 percent are doing as much damage to our environment as anything else.