THE BREITBART/O'KEEFE-IZATION OF AMERICAN POLITICS, PART MCMLXXVII  —  I haven't been able to watch the Benghazi hearings, but I've checked my Twitter feed, and the lefties who've been watching are 100% convinced that Hillary Clinton has been wiping the floor with the Republicans who are trying to take her down.

Obama Speech Leaves G.O.P. Stark Choices  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama's aggressive Inaugural Address on Monday presented Congressional Republicans with a stark choice over the next two years: accommodate the president's agenda on immigration, guns, energy and social programs and hope …

AP SOURCES: PANETTA OPENS COMBAT ROLES TO WOMEN  —  You are here  —  Home » United States government » AP sources: Panetta opens combat roles to women  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Senior defense officials say Pentagon chief Leon Panetta is removing the military's ban on women serving in combat …

Joe Biden ‘intoxicated’ by 2016 run  —  Joe Biden summoned more than 200 Democratic insiders to the vice presidential residence Sunday night to chat about the 2012 triumph — but many walked away convinced his rising 2016 ambitions were the real intent of the long, intimate night.

So what if abortion ends life?  —  I believe that life starts at conception.  And it's never stopped me from being pro-choice  —  Of all the diabolically clever moves the anti-choice lobby has ever pulled, surely one of the greatest has been its consistent co-opting of the word “life.”  Life!

Contemplating Obama's Place in History, Statistically  —  With President Obama's second term under way, we have begun to see more reflections on how he might come to be regarded historically.  —  As common sense might dictate — and as the statistics will also reveal — it is far too soon to conclude very much about this.

Aretha Franklin ‘Really Laughed’ About Beyonce Lip-Sync Controversy  —  Beyonce sings the National Anthem at the inauguration, Jan. 21, 2013.  ; Singer Aretha Franklin performs during the inauguration ceremony for President Obama at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2009.

Everything You Think You Know About Health Care Spending Is Wrong  —  This is the chart that I think ought to dominate the conversation about public-sector health care spending in the United States, and yet it is curiously ignored.  The data show government health care spending per capita in the United States and Canada.

Boehner: Obama's goal is to ‘annihilate’ the Republican Party  —  Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he believes the primary goal of President Obama's second term is to “annihilate the Republican Party.”  —  “Given what we heard yesterday about the president's vision for his second term …

Sen. Durbin: Democrats lack votes to pass talking filibuster reform  —  Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), a leading liberal, said Wednesday Democrats do not have enough votes to implement the talking-filibuster reform.  —  He said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) …

Sting operations reveal Mafia involvement in renewable energy  —  PALERMO, Italy — Inside a midnight-blue BMW, a Sicilian entrepreneur delivered his pitch to the accused mafia boss.  A new business was blowing into Italy that could spin wind and sunlight into gold, ensuring the future …

Release Detail  —  January 23, 2013 - New Jersey Voters Back Christie's Rap On GOP 5-1, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Voters Tell Lautenberg To Step Aside  —  Gov. Christopher Christie was right to criticize Congressional Republicans for delaying a vote on Hurricane Sandy relief …

Flawed Diamond  —  A vanity project masquerading as anthropology.  —  Over the decades, academic scholarship, with its jargon and narrowness, has grown both impenetrable and unenlightening to general readers.  Few academics even attempt to look at the big picture or to render their prose intelligible to the public at large.

America's fiscal policy is not in crisis  —  The urgent challenge is to promote economic recovery  —  The US confronts huge challenges, at home and abroad.  Its fiscal position is not one of them.  This is a highly controversial statement.  If one judged by the debate in Washington …

Your daily jolt: GPB producer resigns over hiring of Chip Rogers  —  News that former state Sen. Chip Rogers has been given an executive position at Georgia Public Broadcasting with a hefty starting salary of $150,000 has prompted the resignation of a longtime executive producer at the network.

Bitter Clingers Again  —  The bigotry behind the push for gun control.  —  Presidential frenemy Bill Clinton was at it again over the weekend, Politico reports: … Oh, these people, these poor misguided hicks!  All they've got is their hunting and their fishing!