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 …

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!

Wayne LaPierre of N.R.A. Has Angry Response to Obama  —  WASHINGTON — Wayne LaPierre, the executive director of the National Rifle Association, angrily accused President Obama on Tuesday of demonizing law-abiding gun owners and of wanting to put “every private personal firearms transaction right under …

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.

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 …

The brilliantly stupid new plan to raise the debt ceiling without raising it  —  How pathetic are House Republicans?  Paul Ryan has to sell them on a plan to avert default with tricky language  —  The big debt ceiling question over the last year has been whether the Republican Party's grown-ups …

BREAKING NEWS: Military to open combat jobs to women  —  By Chris Lawrence, with reporting from Barbara Starr  —  The U.S. military is ending its policy of excluding women from combat and will open combat jobs and direct combat units to female troops, CNN has learned.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

These adult movie posters shocked in the 50s and 60s... But in the light of today's disturbing trend for sexting, over-exposure and limitless online porn they seem tame  — Comes as Government advise parents to keep a closer eye on their children's internet and phone use

Union Members Summary  —  For release 10:00 a.m. (EST) Wednesday.  —  Technical information: (202) 691-6378 * cpsinfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/cps Media contact: (202) 691-5902 * PressOffice@bls.gov  —  UNION MEMBERS — 2012  —  In 2012, the union membership rate …