• Dean Obeidallah, columnist for “The Daily Beast”, calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the Torture Report in the Muslim world

• Michael Tomasky, columnist for “The Daily Beast”, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the rise of Sen. Elizabeth Warren

• More than 140 people are dead after Taliban forces stormed a school in a northwestern city of Pakistan and opened fire on students and teachers. All but about ten of the victims are children. The Taliban are at war with Pakistan, trying to topple the government and set up an Islamic state.

• Australia’s prime minister acknowledged Wednesday that the nation’s security system failed to keep track of a gunman responsible for a deadly siege at a Sydney cafe, and promised a transparent investigation into why the man was not on any terror watch list despite having a long criminal history.

• The fallout from the Sony Pictures hack that began four weeks ago exploded Tuesday after the shadowy group calling itself Guardians of Peace escalated its attack beyond corporate espionage by threatening moviegoers with violence reminiscent of the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

• The Dem-controlled Senate confirmed the last batch of President Obama’s judicial appointees and sent the White House legislation extending tax breaks for working-class millions late Tuesday as Congress ended a tumultuous two-year run.