Why Obama is arming Syria's rebels: it's the realism, stupid.  —  Red line!!  RED LINE!!!  RED LINE!!!!: … Naturally, this will feed the “return of the liberal hawks” meme that's spreading in some quarters.  Other commentators will gnash their teeth or decry that this is the first ill …

Santorum: Why Romney didn't win  —  Rick Santorum ripped Mitt Romney's campaign Thursday for mishandling President Barack Obama's “you didn't build that” gaffe last summer.  —  The former Pennsylvania senator recalled all the business owners who spoke at the Republican National Convention.

CBS News confirms multiple breaches of Sharyl Attkisson's computer  —  CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson revealed in May that her computer had been compromised.  When asked about the situation, CBS News responded with a statement that it was conducting an investigation.

Tap It: NSA Slow Jam (featuring Remy)  —  Government surveillance never sounded so smooth...  Government surveillance never sounded so smooth.  —  Song written and performed by Remy.  Produced by Meredith Bragg.  About 2:45 minutes.  —  Scroll below for downloadable versions and subscribe …

U.S. Agencies Said to Swap Data With Thousands of Firms  —  Thousands of technology, finance and manufacturing companies are working closely with U.S. national security agencies, providing sensitive information and in return receiving benefits that include access to classified intelligence, four people familiar with the process said.

Jeb Bush: U.S. economy needs immigrants because they're ‘more fertile’  —  Former Florida governor Jeb Bush (R) argued Wednesday that the United States should pass immigration reform because the U.S. economy needs the labor of young immigrants, and immigrants are “more fertile.”

Religion and Inequality  —  About a century ago, Walter Judd was a 17-year-old boy hoping to go to college at the University of Nebraska.  His father pulled him aside and told him that, though the family had happily paid for Judd's two sisters to go to college, Judd himself would get no money for tuition or room and board.

Bachmann, Gohmert, & Steve King Appeal Directly To Beck And His Audience: 'We're Losing Badly...'  —  With immigration reform still going through Congress, a number of conservative Republicans are not happy with how their party has jumped on the bandwagon to fight for a bill that concedes the argument to the Democrats.

Paul Ryan explains GOP's 2012 loss  —  Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Friday that he and Mitt Romney lost in November in part because they were arguing against the “empty promises” of the not-yet-implemented Obamacare law.  —  “This was the challenge that Mitt Romney and I had in this last election …

The Bell Tolls for the ‘New Majority’  —  Next year should be a banner year for the GOP, and may yet be.  —  Obamacare, a “train wreck” about to happen, says Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, goes into full effect Jan. 1, with the popular IRS as enforcer.  —  The Obama media feel betrayed …

Sympathy for the Luddites  —  In 1786, the cloth workers of Leeds, a wool-industry center in northern England, issued a protest against the growing use of “scribbling” machines, which were taking over a task formerly performed by skilled labor.  “How are those men, thus thrown out of employ …

Freedom: The Unfolding Revolution  —  'Why are there no libertarian countries?  In a much-discussed essay for Salon, Michael Lind asks: “If libertarians are correct in claiming that they understand how best to organize a modern society, how is it that not a single country in the world …

Christie, Bill Clinton Warm to Latest Bipartisan Presidential ‘Bromance’  —  What is it with Chris Christie and Democratic presidents?  —  First, the Republican governor from New Jersey surprised his party by embracing — both figuratively and literally — President Obama.

Do low taxes on the rich leave the middle-class with lower wages?  —  Raising taxes on the rich often gets proposed as a way of combating the rise of financial inequality.  But how important is tax policy, really?  —  Andrew Fieldhouse, a federal budget policy analyst at the Economic Policy Institute …

Snowden's Leaks on China Could Affect Its Role in His Fate  —  HONG KONG — The decision by a former National Security Agency contractor to divulge classified data about the U.S. government's surveillance of computers in mainland China and Hong Kong has complicated his legal position …

Four States Pushing Through Last-Minute Abortion Restrictions Before Lawmakers Break For The Summer  —  (Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)  —  Across the country, states' legislative sessions are drawing to a close.  Over the past several months, lawmakers have been busy enacting …

Sanford praises ‘God of second chances’ for giving him new platform in Congress  —  Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) on Friday warned the United States is facing a civilizational crisis but acknowledged his own “failures” make him unworthy of offering advice on how to fix them.

Opinion: Resolved To Do Better  —  Six months ago today we grieved along with families in Newtown and throughout the world, as we heard the story of the twenty children gunned down as they learned, and the teachers who died trying to save them.  —  Our grief had a familiar feeling for both of us …

Secret Court Ruling Put Tech Companies in Data Bind  —  SAN FRANCISCO — In a secret court in Washington, Yahoo's top lawyers made their case.  The government had sought help in spying on certain foreign users, without a warrant, and Yahoo had refused, saying the broad requests were unconstitutional.

Franks firestorm spurs fundraising  —  Lawmaker: Cash needed to fight incoming attacks  —  FONT:  —  Both sides in the abortion debate are using the controversy over U.S. Rep. Trent Franks' comments made Wednesday in a House Judiciary Committee hearing about rape and pregnancy to raise money.

After Patent Ruling, Availability of Gene Tests Could Broaden  —  Which Genes Can Be Patented?:  The United States Supreme Court ruled against patenting genes, but allowed cDNA to be patented.  In this video, medical reporter Gina Kolata explains the difference.