Republicans to blame for the public's disgust with Congress  —  As the year ends, Gallup reports that public approval of Congress averaged 14 percent during 2013.  This, the polling firm points out, is “the lowest annual average in Gallup's history.”  —  The pollsters added …

Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson: Girls Should Carry A Bible And Marry ‘when They Are 15’  —  Recently uncovered video indicates that Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson may have fringe views — other than those on homosexuality and civil rights — that most Americans would find far outside the mainstream.

Rep. Castro Rips Issa After Benghazi Report: He ‘crusaded For Over A Year On A Fairy Tale’  —  Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) lashed out at House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) on Sunday for spending over a year on what he said was a crusade on a “fairy tale” …

Sotomayor to Lead Countdown to New Year in Times Square  —  Justice Sonia Sotomayor will return to her hometown for New Year's Eve to help lead one of New York City's best known rituals: the ball drop in Times Square.  She will press the crystal button on Tuesday night to lower the ball …

Obama's TV Picks: Anything Edgy, With Hints of Reality  —  WASHINGTON — War, terrorism, economic struggle, mass shootings — such is life in the Oval Office for President Obama.  —  Yet in his few quiet moments, this president seeks not to escape to the delicious back-stabbing of the …

Mike Huckabee: My adventures in radio  —  Huckabee said he got through the interview on air, but after it wrapped he remembered telling the producer, “Look, I don't mind doing fun stuff, I don't mind doing some stuff that's off the wall, but this is the kind of topic — this isn't going to happen again.”

Cost of Being Mayor?  $650 Million, if He's Rich  —  Michael R. Bloomberg loves tropical fish.  So when he was elected mayor, he installed two giant aquariums in City Hall.  —  The cost to him for having the tanks cleaned out every week for the past 12 years: around $62,400.  —  The mayor likes to nosh, too.

Documents Reveal Top NSA Hacking Unit  —  The insert method and other variants of QUANTUM are closely linked to a shadow network operated by the NSA alongside the Internet, with its own, well-hidden infrastructure comprised of “covert” routers and servers.  It appears the NSA also incorporates routers …

Regulatory fights loom large in 2014  —  Battles lines are being drawn for a series of upcoming clashes over new regulations on the horizon in 2014.  —  The year promises to be chock full of contentious fights over scores of new rules stemming from ObamaCare, Dodd-Frank and a host of other laws.

NO CHURCH FOR OBAMA FAMILY ON CHRISTMAS DAY  —  The President and his family, enjoying a 17-day vacation in Hawaii, did not attend Church on Christmas Day.  Ironically, President Obama recently asked all Christians to remember the religious aspects of Christmas and not to exaggerate the commercial.

Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons died Saturday night at 82  —  Harold Simmons and his wife Annette, at right, at the 2008 press conference announcing they were donating an additional $50 million to UT Southwestern Medical Center's “Innovations in Medicine” campaign, raising …

Suicide bomber kills at least 16 at Russian train station  —  (Reuters) - A female suicide bomber detonated explosives in the entrance hall of a Russian train station on Sunday, investigators said, killing at least 16 people in the second deadly attack within three days as the country prepares to host the Winter Olympics.