FINANCE
• Stephen Schwarzman, Lloyd Blankfein, and David Rubenstein got down with Bush, Condi, and friends (including Martin Scorsese?!) at this year’s Kennedy Center Honors. [NYP]
• Barron Hilton decided to donate almost his entire $2.3 billion fortune to the family foundation, including the proceeds from the recent sale of Hilton Hotels and Harrah’s casinos. Does this mean we’ll have to stop calling Paris an heiress? [NYT]
• If private equity is the smart money on Wall Street, then why have Blackstone’s shareholders lost so big? The Times gives the easy answer: “What Wall Street is about is smart guys thinking about ways to make money from dumb ones.” Good work, Steve Schwarzman! [NYT]
MEDIA
• HarperCollins is rushing through Benazir Bhutto’s last book, whose manuscript the publisher received shortly before she died. The book, titled Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West, should be on shelves by February. [NYP]
• From the Department of Self-Flagellation: The New York Times hires virulent Times critic William Kristol to write a weekly op-ed. The liberal Internet freaks out. [NYT]
• Lapham’s Quarterly has 6,000 subscribers and has printed 20,000 copies of the first issue, and this is considered a tremendous success. Says publisher Louisa Daniels Kearney: “The response on the newsstands has been terrific both in the United States and in Canada.” [NYT]
LAW
• Check out the Bush administration’s ten worst legal arguments of the year. Alberto Gonzales doesn’t even top the list! [Slate]
• Do law-school rankings even matter? [Law Blog/WSJ]
• One Texas businessman is suing Weil Gotshal for allegedly conspiring with his enemies to reduce his holdings. [Texas Lawyer]
FASHION
• Macy’s is closing nine stores but keeping its flagship. So yes, Herald Square will still be full of tourists. [WWD]
• Back in vogue: girdles for men. Anything to make that resolution easier, right, guys? [Jezebel]
• MIA is in the new Marc by Marc Jacobs ads.[Flypaper]
