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 …

Rush Limbaugh's Polar Vortex ‘Hoax’ Comments Knocked Down By Weatherman (VIDEO)  —  Rush Limbaugh made headlines Monday when he called the “polar vortex” of dangerously cold conditions sweeping across the Midwest a “hoax,” but now an actual weatherman is saying otherwise.

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 …

Daisy Coleman hospitalized in Kansas City after suicide attempt  —  KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Maryville Mo., teenager, who has been at the center of a rape case which made national headlines, was in a Kansas City hospital on Monday night after attempting to take her own life.

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 …

Biography Casts Critical Light on Fox News Chief  —  Roger Ailes was so eager to influence national politics that in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election, he told fellow Fox News executives point-blank: “I want to elect the next president.”  —  In the corporate thicket of News Corporation …

House GOP leaders coach rank-and-file on discussing unemployment  —  House Republican leaders sent a memo this week to the entire GOP conference with talking points designed to help rank-and-file Republicans show compassion for the unemployed and explain the Republican position on unemployment benefits.

Agency rejects trademark of ‘Redskins Hog Rinds,’ calling term ‘derogatory’  —  The same federal agency that will determine whether Washington's professional football team gets to keep its trademark registration recently struck down a request for a company to sell pork rinds with the name “Redskins.”

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 …

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.

Pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC posts substantial 2013 fundraising haul  —  Washington (CNN) - Who says you need a candidate to raise a bundle of cash?  —  Ready for Hillary, the grassroots Super PAC urging former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to run for president in 2016 …

Melissa Harris-Perry and the Contrition Complex  —  A glance at the fraying tethers of our civic culture almost invites a nostalgia for the days when we imagined our troubles were a neatly bilateral conflict between red states and blue ones.  These days, we have the civic amity of feuding rappers.

Obamacare ads to hit the Olympic slopes  —  The Obama administration is planning an Olympic-size ad blitz to push health coverage during the Winter Games next month.  —  The Department of Health and Human Services confirmed Tuesday that it has bought advertising time in markets with high rates …

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.

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.

Google Launches Private SF Bay Ferry Service To Shuttle Workers  —  REDWOOD CITY (CBS SF) - Just as Bay Area high-tech firms such as Google have been using private shuttle buses to transport their workers to their jobs, Google is taking it to another level with its own ferry service on San Francisco Bay.

Wall of Separation  —  Has The ‘Ark Park’ Run Aground?:  Ky. Biblical Theme Park Has Only Weeks To Raise Millions  —  The drama surrounding Kentucky's infamous “Ark Park” may soon be at an end amid reports that the biblical theme park is running out of time to raise the money it needs to get afloat.

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.