Cruz: GOP immigration plan is ‘amnesty’  —  Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Thursday blasted as “amnesty” a House GOP plan to give legal status to millions of immigrants living in the country illegally.  —  “I think it would be a mistake if House Republicans were to support amnesty for those here illegally …

When Biography Trumps Substance  —  SPOKANE, Wa.  — Only the snarkiest would not be open to the likable life story of Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the Eastern Washington politician who gave the “official” Republican response to the president's State of the Union speech.

Dear America, I Saw You Naked  —  And yes, we were laughing.  Confessions of an ex-TSA agent.  —  On Jan. 4, 2010, when my boss saw my letter to the editor in the New York Times, we had a little chat.  —  It was rare for the federal security director at Chicago O'Hare to sit …

Stewart Laughs in Pelosi's Face After She Admits She Doesn't Know Why Obamacare Site Failed  —  House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) sat down with The Daily Show host Jon Stewart on Thursday for a contentious interview.  The interview became tense when Stewart attempted to get Pelosi …

Obama Says Easing Marijuana Restrictions a Job for Congress  —  Implies he might support doing so, but doesn't say so explicitly  —  Correction appended, Jan 31., 2014  —  President Barack Obama says in a new interview that that it's up to Congress to remove marijuana from the federal government's list …

Chris Christie is falling apart: His hilarious 2016 hubris finally takes its toll  —  As a new report finds him looking at '16 general election, he loses a top promoter and polls show him fading fast  —  New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is sinking fast.  Yet another national poll finds …

Maher Wants His Show to Decide a House Race  —  Bill Maher makes little effort to hide his own contempt for many politicians, most of them Republicans.  Now, he wants to take it to the next level: finding one he might be able to help oust from office.  —  On his weekly HBO talk show …

Ann Romney: ‘The Country Lost’ By Re-Electing Obama (VIDEO)  —  Ann Romney has a message for the country that rejected her husband: Your loss, America!  —  The Romney family postmortem/movie promotion continued Friday with Ann reflecting on Mitt's defeat in the 2012 presidential election.

Noonan: Meanwhile, Back in America . . .  The growing distance between Washington and the public it dominates.  —  The State of the Union was a spectacle of delusion and self-congratulation in which a Congress nobody likes rose to cheer a president nobody really likes.

Even Republicans Now View The Iraq War As A Failure  —  Republicans are finally done defending the Iraq war.  —  GOP voters spent years applying a positive spin to the central part of George W. Bush's legacy, but a poll released Friday revealed a significant shift in public opinion.

Footage released of Guardian editors destroying Snowden hard drives  —  GCHQ technicians watched as journalists took angle grinders and drills to computers after weeks of tense negotiations  —  • Watch the footage of the hard drives being destroyed  —  New video footage has been released …

RPOF to NBC Miami: Apologize for “Reprehensive Party of Florida” gaffe  —  The Florida GOP demanded Friday that a Miami NBC affiliate issue an on-air apology after the station referred to the party as “the Reprehensive Party of Florida” in a broadcast.  —  The error surfaced when WTVJ aired …

Keystone pipeline impact study expected Friday  —  (CNN) — The results of an environmental impact study into the Keystone XL pipeline project will be announced Friday afternoon, two senior administration officials and another source familiar with the timing told CNN.

Amazon's Bad Omen for the U.S. Economy  —  Amazon.com Inc.'s shares fell almost 10 percent a few minutes past 4 p.m., after the company dropped some disappointing earnings news.  The title of the company's news release is cheerily optimistic: “Amazon.com Announces Fourth Quarter Sales up 20% to $25.59 Billion.”

The Inside Story Of The Charlatan Who Duped The Nation's Top Conservatives  —  On New Year's Eve, I learned FEMA's “Dirty Little Secret.”  —  It was the title of a fascinating email, one that had somehow dodged my spam filter.  The message was suffused with breathless concern …