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” …

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.

CNN Poll: Afghanistan war arguably most unpopular in U.S. history  —  Washington (CNN) - Support for the war in Afghanistan has dipped below 20%, according to a new national poll, making the country's longest military conflict arguably its most unpopular one as well.

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 …

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.

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, Clinton Continue Reign as Most Admired  —  Sixth year in a row for Obama, 12th straight year for Clinton  —  PRINCETON, NJ — For the sixth consecutive year, Barack Obama ranks as the Most Admired Man among Americans, and Hillary Clinton is again the Most Admired Woman.  Both won by comfortable margins.

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 …

Democrats Turn to Minimum Wage as 2014 Strategy  —  WASHINGTON — Democratic Party leaders, bruised by months of attacks on the new health care program, have found an issue they believe can lift their fortunes both locally and nationally in 2014: an increase in the minimum wage.

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.”

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.

Second Blast Hits Russia, Raising Olympic Fears  —  MOSCOW — A deadly suicide bombing at a crowded railroad station in southern Russia on Sunday, followed by a blast in a trolley bus on Monday in the same city, raised the specter of a new wave of terrorism just six weeks before the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

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.

The good news about 2014 (maybe)  —  For four and a half years, we have waited for a powerful and self-sustaining economic recovery.  More than once it seemed imminent.  Then, for various reasons, it vanished, and we returned to a plodding expansion with too much unemployment and too little confidence.

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 …