Rand Paul launches talking filibuster against CIA nominee  —  Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is staging a talking filibuster against the nomination of John Brennan to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).  —  “I'm here to filibuster John Brennan's nomination to be director of CIA,” Paul said on the Senate floor Wednesday.

Chief White House Calligrapher Gets Paid $96,725 Per Year  —  With the White House closing its doors to public tour groups in order to save money for the sequester, it's worth remembering some of the other costs the White House incurs annually.  —  Like the “Chief Calligrapher,” …

Boehner Wants Budget Deals ‘Out in the Open’  —  Supervising Producer for “The Kudlow Report”  —  House Speaker John Boehner told CNBC's Larry Kudlow on Wednesday that a long-term deal on entitlements is possible, and there's no good reason for the Obama team to have shut down the White House tour.

How his economically disastrous, politically effective ideology will haunt the country he ruined.  —  Even before Hugo Chávez died, he had become a ghost.  A strange, unfamiliar quiet had fallen on Venezuela for weeks as people waited to hear the voice of the president who had been part of their daily lives for nearly 14 years.

Exclusive Excerpt: Roger Ailes Off Camera  —  Roger Ailes is one of the most powerful—and controversial—characters in television media, pilloried by critics and many in the mainstream media and lionized by conservative viewers who can't get enough of his posse of charismatic hosts.

GRAPHIC: Woman packing heat, drugs in private parts  —  WARNING: Content could be considered graphic to some audiences.  —  ADA, Okla. - An unusual and graphic case in Pontotoc County leads police to a bizarre find inside a female suspect.  —  It began at Dairy Lou Drive Inn in Ada.

Report: Mitt Romney takes job at son Tagg's investment firm  —  Former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney will be returning to work, joining his son Tagg's investment firm.  —  Romney will serve as chairman of the executive committee for Solamere Capital, where he'll work for one week …

Lindsey Graham: Hurricane Victims Need Assault Weapons To Shoot ‘Roaming Gangs’  —  Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) pushed back against efforts to limit the availability of assault weapons during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday by echoing the paranoia of the National Rifle Association …

Revealed: Pentagon link to Iraq torture centres  —  Exclusive: General David Petraeus and ‘dirty wars’ veteran behind commando units implicated in detainee abuse  —  See the full-length documentary film of the 15-month investigation  —  The Pentagon sent a US veteran of the “dirty wars” …

Over $8B of the Money You Spent Rebuilding Iraq Was Wasted Outright  —  The never-completed Khan Bani Sa'ad Prison in Diyala, Iraq.  Ultimately, the U.S. spent $40 million on the aborted project.  Photo courtesy of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction

Mayor Bloomberg's new health crusade: too-loud earbuds  —  Now listen up, if you can.  —  Mayor Bloomberg — who has already cracked down on smoking, junk food, trans fats, salt and super-sized drinks — is embarking on a new crusade: preventing New Yorkers from going deaf.

City looks to make gun ownership mandatory  —  Every homeowner in a local town could soon have to own a gun or break the law.  It's a controversial new plan for the city of Nelson.  —  NELSON, Ga. —  Every homeowner in a local town could soon have to own a gun or break the law.

Arkansas Adopts Strictest Abortion Law in the U.S.  —  In the sharpest challenge yet to Roe v. Wade, Arkansas adopted Wednesday what is by far the country's most restrictive ban on abortion, at 12 weeks of pregnancy, around the time that a fetal heartbeat can be detected by abdominal ultrasound.