America's 20 Craziest Politicians  —  How do you feel about facts?  Do you hate them?  Are they super annoying, like science?  Are you frightened of communists, Muslims, and vaginas?  Good news!  This month, America is inaugurating a new class of elected representatives …

Obama marks Afghanistan milestone  —  President Barack Obama on Sunday praised the official end of the 13-year U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan, offering his remarks to coincide with a handover ceremony there.  —  “On this day,” Obama said in a statement, “we give thanks to our troops …

CNN bumps politics to cover missing plane  —  CNN bumped its normal political coverage on Sunday morning to cover the missing AirAsia flight.  —  Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) were both scheduled to appear on the channel's flagship Sunday political talk show …

Pope Francis's edict on climate change will anger deniers and US churches  —  Pontiff hopes to inspire action at next year's UN meeting in Paris in December after visits to Philippines and New York  —  He has been called the “superman pope”, and it would be hard to deny that Pope Francis has had a good December.

Giuliani urges de Blasio to apologize for police remarks  —  Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Sunday rebuked police officers who have turned their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio but urged his Democratic successor to apologize for remarks that infuriated the police amid searing tension among the department and communities of color.

Nothing funny about ‘The Interview’  —  Just when did assassination become a subject for American humor?  —  This is a nation which still mourns Abraham Lincoln, John Kennedy, and Martin Luther King — all assassinated.  It is living through a period of renewed racial violence …

Ferguson Officer Admits Calling Memorial “A Piece of Trash”  —  FERGUSON (KMOX) - Police public information officer Tim Zoll is on unpaid leave after the city says he did make degrading comments about a memorial to Michael Brown, despite his early denials.  —  The makeshift memorial …

Can Carter make a defense difference?  —  He will face the likely return of sequestration.  —  Ash Carter faces a double-barreled challenge if he's the next Defense secretary: leading a Pentagon handicapped by a Congress unwilling to go along with military-proposed spending reforms …

GOP puts up a bigger tent for minority challenge  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The faces of the Republican Party's most ambitious members are changing.  —  Long criticized as the party of old white men, the GOP's next class of presidential contenders may include two Hispanic senators …

5,200 Days in Space  —  An exploration of life aboard the International Space Station, and the surprising reasons the mission is still worthwhile  —  When humans move to space, we are the aliens, the extraterrestrials.  And so, living in space, the oddness never quite goes away.