Huckabee: Dems think women can't control their libido  —  Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee (R) said Thursday that Republicans need to take a more combative attitude toward winning the votes of women, by emphasizing that women aren't weaklings in need of help from the government.

Watchdog Report Says N.S.A. Program Is Illegal and Should End  —  WASHINGTON — An independent federal privacy watchdog has concluded that the National Security Agency's program to collect bulk phone call records has provided only “minimal” benefits in counterterrorism efforts, is illegal and should be shut down.

Biggest Liberal ‘Super PAC’ to Fund Possible Clinton Bid  —  The largest liberal “super PAC” in the country has begun raising money to elect Hillary Rodham Clinton president, formally aligning itself with Mrs. Clinton's undeclared presidential ambitions more than two years away from the election.

Mark Herring explains gay marriage shift  —  New Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring says his decision to challenge his state's ban on gay marriage, rather than defend it on behalf of the state, is part of an evolution in his views on the subject.  —  Herring announced his decision to side …

U.S. Attorney subpoenas Christie campaign and GOP State Committee over bridge scandal  —  Gov. Chris Christie delivers his State of the State address in which he also discussed the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal.  (Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-Ledgery)

Pope Cautions Catholics Against ‘Bombarding People With Religious Messages’  —  Pope Francis on Thursday said that Catholics should start a conversation about their beliefs in order to promote their message, not simply tout their perspective.  —  “Effective Christian witness …

Schumer seeks to poison Tea Party  —  Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the Senate Democrats' political guru, has a plan to poison the Tea Party by driving a wedge between its rich funders and its blue-collar rank and file.  —  Schumer, one of the Democrats' most influential strategists …

Justin Bieber arrested in Miami Beach over DUI, drag-racing  —  After allegedly smoking pot all day, drinking beer and popping anti-depressants, bad-boy pop star Justin Bieber went on a wild pre-dawn drag race in Miami Beach that landed him in jail Thursday morning, police said.

Leaning Right in Hollywood, Under a Lens  —  LOS ANGELES — In a famously left-leaning Hollywood, where Democratic fund-raisers fill the social calendar, Friends of Abe stands out as a conservative group that bucks the prevailing political winds.  —  A collection of perhaps 1,500 right-leaning players …

The Heritage Foundation Might Be Shedding Some Of Its Crazy Soon  —  2013 wasn't exactly been a banner year for the Heritage Foundation, Washington's most well-known and influential conservative think tank.  —  In its first year under former senator and tea party godfather Jim DeMint …

Zakaria: Iran Deal is a Train Wreck  —  In an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani forcefully asserted that Iran would not destroy its nuclear centrifuges “under any circumstances”.  —  Rouhani's comments come just days after the U.S. and Iran began to implement …

CNN lays off more than 40 journalists  —  CNN has laid off more than 40 senior journalists in its newsgathering operation - including a pregnant producer who was two weeks away from giving birth to twins - as part of a reorganisation of the business under Jeff Zucker.

Guns Make Voting Even Harder  —  If you want to feel truly dispirited about the health of U.S. democracy, skip the stories about Chris Christie and Bob McDonnell and go straight to today's report on the American voting experience.  —  The report, by a presidentially appointed commission …

Gregory Hicks: Benghazi and the Smearing of Chris Stevens  —  Shifting blame to our dead ambassador is wrong on the facts.  I know—I was there.  —  Last week the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence issued its report on the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya.

Hoboken Mayor Is Said to Have Told of Threat  —  Federal authorities in New Jersey have interviewed several witnesses who said the mayor of Hoboken told them in May about a state official's threat to withhold hurricane recovery funds if the mayor did not support a development project favored by the governor …

Poll Shows Most Republicans Think People Are Poor Because They Don't Work Hard Enough  —  Whether you're rich or poor, Republicans believe that's on you.  —  New findings released Thursday by Pew showed that most Republicans think rich people are largely responsible for their socioeconomic status.

Mystery of the Lyubov Orlova: Ghost ship full of cannibal rats ‘could be heading for Britain’  —  A ghost ship carrying nothing but disease-ridden rats could be about to make land on Britain's shore, experts have warned.  —  The Lyubov Orlova cruise liner has been drifting across …

The Fiscal Reality and its Politics  —  Ever since the election of 1992, fiscal conservatives in both parties—and in third parties—have tried to make the federal deficit a central political and economic issue.  In a series of articles and books beginning in 1982, the billionaire investor …

17 Things That The New York Times Magazine “Planet Hillary” Cover Looks Like  —  The “newspaper of record's” magazine has entered a whole new universe.  —  Here is the latest New York Times Magazine cover featuring “Planet Hillary.”  —  Ted Cruz's Wrecking Ball  —  View Entire List ›

Upward Mobility Has Not Declined, Study Says  —  The odds of moving up — or down — the income ladder in the United States have not changed appreciably in the last 20 years, according to a large new academic study that contradicts politicians in both parties who have claimed that income mobility is falling.

Welder lauded by Scott Walker in speech is sex offender  —  By Daniel Bice of the Journal Sentinel  —  Emphasizing his role as a job creator, Gov. Scott Walker praised Christopher Barber's initiative during the governor's annual “state of the state” speech on Wednesday.

Security Check Firm Said to Have Defrauded U.S.  —  The company that conducted a background investigation on the contractor Edward J. Snowden fraudulently signed off on hundreds of thousands of incomplete security checks in recent years, the Justice Department said Wednesday.