What the Duck?  —  How in the world did a family of squirrel-eating, Bible-thumping, catchphrase-spouting duck hunters become the biggest TV stars in America?  And what will they do now that they have 14 million fervent disciples?  Our Drew Magary toured the Louisiana backwater with Phil Robertson and the Duck Dynasty gang to find out

W.H. to nominate Sen. Max Baucus as next ambassador to China  —  Sen. Max Baucus, the veteran Montana Democrat who has served in the Senate since 1978, is expected to be nominated by the White House to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to China, according to several sources familiar with the matter.

Rand Paul: Intelligence director should resign  —  (CNN) - Republican Sen. Rand Paul said the nation's top intelligence official should resign for “lying” to a Senate committee about mass data collection by the National Security Agency.  —  “I do think what your government is doing is unconstitutional …

Rep. Jack Kingston Proposes That Poor Students Sweep Floors In Exchange For Lunch  —  WASHINGTON — Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) wants kids to learn early in life that there's no such thing as a free lunch.  To make sure they absorb that lesson, he's proposing that low-income children …

Record High in U.S. Say Big Government Greatest Threat  —  Now 72% say it is greater threat than big business or big labor  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Seventy-two percent of Americans say big government is a greater threat to the U.S. in the future than is big business or big labor …

Non-citizens caught voting in 2012 presidential election in key swing state  —  Oct. 2, 2012: Voters cast their ballots at a Franklin County polling location on the first day of in-person absentee voting in Columbus, Ohio.Reuters  —  Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted announced Wednesday …

Barbara Walters' Most Fascinating Person of 2013 Revealed … Hillary Clinton is Barbara Walters' Most Fascinating Person of 2013.  —  Although speculation and rumors have been swirling for months over whether Clinton will make another run for the White House in 2016, she said she hasn't decided yet.

If Ruth Bader Ginsburg Is Replaced By A Republican, Here Is What Happens To The Law  —  At a forum in Reston, Virginia on Tuesday, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg threw her most recent bucket of cold water on Courtwatchers urging her to retire while President Obama is still in the White House.

For immediate release  —  Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in October indicates that economic activity is expanding at a moderate pace.  Labor market conditions have shown further improvement; the unemployment rate has declined but remains elevated.

New Documentary Threatens to Make You Like Mitt Romney  —  During the 2012 campaign, I, like every liberal writer whose job it is to comment on politics every day, wrote many unkind things about Mitt Romney.  Much of the time I found him more sad than despicable; politicians who nearly reach …

Hackers break into Washington Post servers  —  Hackers broke into The Washington Post's servers and gained access to employee user names and passwords, marking at least the third intrusion over the past three years, company officials said Wednesday.  —  The extent of the loss of company data …

Uninsured Skeptical of Health Care Law in Poll  —  WASHINGTON — Americans who lack medical coverage disapprove of President Obama's health care law at roughly the same rate as the insured, even though most say they struggle to pay for basic care, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

NYT Mag Offers Inexplicable 2006 John McCain Cover Profile in 2013  —  In the last couple of years, every time something John McCain says makes “news,” my immediate reaction—sometimes on Twitter, sometimes just in my head—is, “Remind me again why anybody should give a crap what John McCain thinks about anything?”

North Carolina Shows How to Crush the Unemployed  —  The U.S. is about to cut the maximum duration of public support for the unemployed.  The federal extension of unemployment insurance expires on Jan. 1.  To see the consequences, look at North Carolina.  —  I've been watching the state since July …

Obenshain to concede Virginia attorney general's race on Wednesday in Richmond  —  State Sen. Mark D. Obenshain(R) will concede the race for Virginia attorney general to Democrat Mark R. Herring on Wednesday, according to two people familiar with the decision.

President Obama: 'I've Got 3 Opinionated, Strong, Tall Women'  —  Sitting down for their annual interview with PEOPLE Managing Editor Larry Hackett and Washington, D.C., correspondent Sandra Sobieraj Westfall, President and Mrs. Obama reflect on the year's difficulties, both in the political arena …

In probe of Va. Gov. McDonnell, prosecutors agreed to delay decision on charges  —  View Photo Gallery — McDonnell's time in office comes to a close: Gov. Robert F. McDonnell was supposed to be in the thick of the race to succeed him.  Instead, the Republican found himself relegated …

Fear of a Black Santa  —  S#&t just got real for Megyn Kelly.  —  “Award-winning Pastry Chef Mahesh Weerasinghe stands with his hand-sculptured, chocolate art at the Hilton Americas, Monday, Dec. 16, 2013, in downtown Houston.  Chef Mahesh, along with the culinary and property operations teams …

Wyoming Senate race 2014: Liz Cheney husband Phil Perry on vote rolls in 2 states  —  Liz Cheney's husband has been registered to vote in both Virginia and Wyoming for the past nine months, even though he signed a document in Wyoming saying he was not registered elsewhere.

Bloomberg's Favorite Toy  —  Inside the billionaire's quixotic, costly, and strangely milquetoast foray into opinion journalism  —  On a leafy stretch of East 78th Street, behind a locked, unmarked door with wrought-iron detailing, the office that housed Bloomberg View for the past …