Ryan Deal Limits Senate GOP's Power to Block Tax Increases  —  Senate Republicans scrubbing the Ryan-Murray budget deal have come across a little-noticed provision that will limit the GOP's ability to block tax increases in future years.  —  The bill includes language from the Senate Democrats' budget …

The story behind “that selfie”  —  So here's the photo, my photo, which quickly lit up the world's social networks and news websites.  The “selfie” of three world leaders who, during South Africa's farewell to Nelson Mandela, were messing about like kids instead of behaving with the mournful gravitas one might expect.

Meet the littlest casualty in the war on men.  —  Hunter Yelton of Cañon City, Colo., is accused of sexual harassment.  Hunter Yelton is 6 years old and in the first grade.  “He has a crush on a girl at school, who likes him back,” reports Colorado Springs' KRDO-TV.

Is The Universe A Hologram?  Physicists Say It's Possible  —  A team of physicists has provided some of the clearest evidence yet that our Universe could be just one big projection.  —  In 1997, theoretical physicist Juan Maldacena proposed that an audacious model of the Universe …

Nearly $90 million in fines handed down for government-funded phone fraud  —  (KMOV) - More fines issued for those involved in a government- funded “free phone” fiasco following a News 4 Investigation.  —  Two companies accused of fraud first played off the allegations to News 4's Chris Nagus …

Biden: My ancestors 'didn't all come here legally'  —  Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday that some of his ancestors came to the United States illegally and said it's fruitless to compare the immigration system of the 1800s to today's.  —  “My great-great grandparents came escaping …

North Carolina's choice  —  LENOIR, N.C. — It would be tough to find another state where the political terrain has shifted as dramatically as it has here — from kindling hopes of a Democratic revival in the South just a few years ago, to becoming a conservative hotbed that banned gay marriage …

A year after Newtown, Americans divided on gun laws  —  Shares -  —  Tweets - Stumble  —  One year after the deadly school shooting in Newtown, Conn., Americans divide on what should happen to laws covering the sale of guns, according to a new CBS News poll.

Juking the ObamaCare Stats  —  HHS won't disclose the enrollment data that really matter.  —  Most of Washington seems to have bought the White House claim that the 36 federal exchanges are finally working, and glory, glory, hallelujah.  But if that's really true, then what explains the ongoing secrecy and evasion?

Republicans Running in Reverse  —  Let's hear it for women in high places.  —  This week in Detroit, Mary Barra took over General Motors.  In Washington, Senator Patty Murray made headlines when she worked out a deal with Representative Paul Ryan to keep the government funded for the next two years.

Santa Claus Should Not Be a White Man Anymore  —  It's time to give St. Nick his long overdue makeover.  —  When I was a kid, I knew two different Santa Clauses.  The first had a fat belly, rosy cheeks, a long white beard, and skin as pink as bubble gum.  He was omnipresent …

Obama's tardy epiphany about government's flaws  —  The education of Barack Obama is a protracted process as he repeatedly alights upon the obvious with a sense of original discovery.  In a recent MSNBC interview, he restocked his pantry of excuses for his disappointing results, announcing that …

Obama's Orwellian Image Control  —  THE Internet has been abuzz over the spectacle of President Obama and the prime ministers of Britain and Denmark snapping a photo of themselves — a “selfie,” to use the mot du jour — with a smartphone at the memorial service for Nelson Mandela in South Africa on Tuesday.