Sulzberger Swings the Axe Again: Why the Times Publisher and Jill Abramson Were Doomed From the Start  —  A long good-bye that nobody saw coming.  —  For the past six months, Jill Abramson walked the newsroom like a woman under siege.  “She was feeling it and was exhausted,” one close colleague said.

Harry Reid Proposes Changing Constitution To Block The Koch Brothers  —  Buckley v. Valeo Chuck Schumer Harry Reid Amendment Harry Reid Koch Brothers McCutcheon v. Fec Harry REeid Citizens United Harry Reid Koch Tom Udall Amendment Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission HuffPolitics …

Gov. Christie was told about George Washington Bridge closure plans claims his former campaign manager  —  Bill Stepien, who lost his job in the ‘Bridgegate’ scandal, contends he told Christie about the GWB traffic plans on Dec. 12, a day before the governor told reporters his staff didn't know about them.

Coroner: Man wearing bullet-proof vest says, ‘Shoot me,’ is killed  —  Man, woman being questioned  —  A 25-year-old man who put on a bullet proof vest and asked to be shot was killed Wednesday morning, according to the coroner, and an 18-year-old girl is charged in the death.

America's most gerrymandered congressional districts  —  Crimes against geography.  —  This election year we can expect to hear a lot about Congressional district gerrymandering, which is when political parties redraw district boundaries to give themselves an electoral advantage.

My Benghazi Scandal  —  I may be under fire from conservatives for saying Ambassador Stevens wasn't murdered in Benghazi, but I'm not backing down.  Here's why I said what I did.  —  After getting hammered by the right for remarks I made on the McLaughlin Group last weekend …

Obama Has Every Reason to Fix the VA. Why Hasn't He?  —  The candidate made taking care of veterans a pledge and a priority, but hundreds of thousands of them are stuck in a long waiting line for disability decisions.  —  VA officials expect to end the claims backlog next year.  (John Moore/Getty Images)

Ben Carson Moves Toward Presidential Run  —  Ben Carson is warming to the idea of running for president.  Since the famous brain surgeon retired last year from Johns Hopkins Hospital, he's been speaking around the country to enthusiastic audiences.  And they've affected his thinking about seeking national office.

Fringe Candidates Steal The Show At Idaho's Gubernatorial Debate  —  Two long-shot candidates in the Idaho gubernatorial race stole the show in Wednesday's Republican primary debate.  —  On stage were Gov. Butch Otter, state Sen. Russ Fulcher, as well as Harley Brown and Walt Bayes.

The Inequality Puzzle  —  Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty; Translated by Arthur Goldhammer  • Belknap/Harvard University Press  Once in a great while, a heavy academic tome dominates for a time the policy debate and, despite bristling with footnotes, shows up on the best-seller list.

Christian woman in Sudan sentenced to death for her faith  —  (CNN) — A Sudanese court has sentenced a Christian woman to death for renouncing Islam, her lawyer said Thursday.  —  Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, 27, was convicted by a Khartoum court this week of apostasy, or the renunciation of faith.

GOP: We'll act on immigration reform in GOP-led Senate  —  Senate Republicans say they'll try to pass immigration reform legislation in the next two years if they take back the Senate in November.  —  The Republicans say winning back the Senate will allow them to pass a series of bills …

The Republican Advantage Among Older Voters Won't Last  —  As life expectancy rises and the population ages, it gets more female and more opposed to entitlement reform.  Those are both bad for a party of austerity.  —  Republicans are expected to score gains in 2014 because of their advantage …

Bonfire of the Humanities  —  Christine Lagarde is the latest ritualistic burning of a college-commencement heretic.  —  It's been a long time coming, but America's colleges and universities have finally descended into lunacy.  —  Last month, Brandeis University banned Somali-born feminist Ayaan Hirsi Ali …

‘Stress Test,’ by Timothy F. Geithner  —  He's written a really good book — we might as well get that out of the way, as so much else about Timothy F. Geithner remains unsettled.  Geithner served as president of the New York Federal Reserve from late 2003 to 2008 and secretary of the Treasury …