Robert Gates, former defense secretary, offers harsh critique of Obama's leadership in ‘Duty’  —  In a new memoir, former defense secretary Robert Gates unleashes harsh judgments about President Obama's leadership and his commitment to the Afghanistan war, writing that by early 2010 …

In surprise, unemployment benefits advance  —  In a surprise, several Senate Republicans on Tuesday morning joined with Democrats to break the filibuster of a bill to extend unemployment benefits for three months.  —  By 60-37, Senate Democrats secured the votes needed to advance the bill …

Angry Dennis Rodman defends North Korea basketball game  —  (CNN) — Dennis Rodman defended his visit to North Korea with a team of fellow former NBA players in a combative exchange Tuesday, saying the trip was a “great idea for the world.”  —  In an exclusive interview with Chris Cuomo of CNN's …

Burglars Who Took On F.B.I. Abandon Shadows  —  Stealing J. Edgar Hoover's Secrets: One night in 1971, files were stolen from an F.B.I. office near Philadelphia.  They proved that the bureau was spying on thousands of Americans.  The case was unsolved, until now.

What the heck is a polar vortex?  —  (CNN) — Americans in two dozen states from the Midwest to the Southeast and Northeast are shivering this week courtesy of a distorted polar vortex.  The rush of cold air it's sending southward is the biggest visitor from the North Pole since Santa Claus.

Navy mistakenly sends FOIA plans to reporter  —  The Unites States Navy inadvertently sent a memo to a local NBC News reporter this week detailing how it intended to try and deter requests he had filed under the Freedom Of Information Act.  —  Scott MacFarlane, a reporter for NBC 4 in Washington …

Six-Year Itch Plagues Presidents in Midterms  —  History shows that midterm elections are usually bad for the president's party.  —  Second-term blues: Fatigue erodes a president's relationship with the electorate.  (Kent Nishimura-Pool/Getty Images)  —  It is as certain as the sun coming up in the morning.

What happened to US life expectancy?  —  Here's another chart from the JAMA study “The Anatomy of Health Care in the United States”:  —  Why did the US fall behind the OECD median in the mid-1980s for men and the early 1990s for women?  Note, the answer need not point to the health system.

Spitzer caught sucking Lis Smith's toes in topless hot tub romp  —  Sleazy Eliot Spitzer turned a resort hot tub into a steamy love cauldron over the weekend — kissing and sucking the toes of his topless mistress, Lis Smith, in front of families with children, mortified witnesses told The Post.

How value judgments cloud social thought.  —  City Journal's Kay Hymowitz weighed in over the holidays with a response to our Dec. 16 column, in which we faulted the premise of her earlier article titled “Boy Trouble.”  She maintains that the main body of the article (which we described as …

2013 Guns Sales Set New Record  —  The FBI has released new statistics on NICS background checks showing 2013 gun sales hit a new record.  The total number of background checks conducted for gun sales last year add up to 21,093,273, beating the previous 2012 record of 19,592,303 by 1,500,970.

Surprise!  Walmart health plan is cheaper, offers more coverage than Obamacare  —  WATCHDOG OBAMACARE HEALTH CARE ACCOUNTABILITY WALMART  —  New Obamacare health insurance enrollees may feel a pang of envy when they eye the coverage plans offered by Walmart to its employees.

Senate Conversations: Paul Broun ‘Fighting For Liberty’  —  The primary race for Georgia's open U.S. Senate seat heats up in the first weeks of 2014 with the election looming May 20.  —  For Rep. Paul Broun (R-Athens), the race is all about liberty.  —  “What I'm fighting for is liberty.

Dutch Soccer Team Leaves Star Israeli Player Behind  —  Star Israeli-national soccer player Dan Mori banned from Abu Dhabi due to nationality.  Dutch politician slams ‘cowardly’ decision.  —  The premier Dutch soccer team Vitesse left for training in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this year …

4 Million Medicaid Enrollees Under Obamacare?  Doubtful.  —  The White House has propagated numbers regarding sign-ups for the Affordable Care Act, claiming that the program is responsible for 4 million people gaining coverage through Medicaid expansion; 3 million enrollees in their early 20s …