France cracks down on hate speech, sends carrier to Mideast  —  PARIS (AP) — France ordered prosecutors around the country to crack down on hate speech, anti-Semitism and glorifying terrorism and announced Wednesday it was sending an aircraft carrier to the Mideast to work more closely …

Romney crafting a rationale for 2016 run  —  Focus on poor, foreign policy

House passes bill to defund Obama's immigration orders  —  The House voted Wednesday to block funding for President Obama's immigration orders, firing the first shot in a high-stakes battle over deferred deportations for the millions of people who are in the country illegally.

With New Charlie Hebdo Cover, News Value Should Have Prevailed  —  Readers responded passionately, and in large numbers, to my post last week about The Times's decision not to publish the now-famous Charlie Hebdo cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.  (In fact, I've never had more comments on a post or column.)

Bartender's Threat against John Boehner Thwarted  —  The FBI says an Ohio bartender planned to kill House Speaker John Boehner last October by poisoning his drink at a country club.  —  The question is: Would anyone have noticed?  Stories about Boehner's drinking have circulated for years.

Jimmy Carter — Huckabee's Wrong on Everything ... Not Just Obamas' Parenting Skills  —  HUCKABEE'S WRONG ON EVERYTHING  —  Not Just Obamas' Parenting Skills  —  EXCLUSIVE  —  Jimmy Carter slammed Mike Huckabee Tuesday for criticizing the Obamas' parenting skills.

Paul Ryan isn't running for president.  He's after something even bigger.  —  Most politicians who can gin up presidential speculation do (see Gingrich, Newt).  It means more reporters covering their speeches, more money for their PAC, more invitations to the Sunday shows.

Obama's approval rating ticks up in 2015  —  Shares -  —  President Obama's overall job approval rating has risen seven points since last October, although it still remains below 50 percent.  Forty-six percent of Americans now approve of the job the president is doing, while just as many disapprove.

Women and Leadership  —  Public Says Women are Equally Qualified, but Barriers Persist  —  According to the majority of Americans, women are every bit as capable of being good political leaders as men.  The same can be said of their ability to dominate the corporate boardroom.

FBI: Ohio Man Arrested for Alleged ISIS-Inspired Plot on US Capitol … The FBI has arrested an Ohio man for allegedly plotting an ISIS-inspired attack on the U.S. Capitol, where he hoped to set off a series of bombs aimed at lawmakers, whom he allegedly considered enemies.

Former highest-ranking U.S. cardinal blames ‘feminization’ for the Catholic Church's problems  —  Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke is a man with a lot of enemies.  The former archbishop of St. Louis, who once said supporters of abortion rights shouldn't receive communion, became the highest-ranking American …

JPMorgan CEO Dimon Says Banks ‘Under Assault’ by U.S. Regulators  —  Jamie Dimon, grappling with multibillion-dollar legal costs and rising capital requirements at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), lashed out at U.S. regulators for putting his bank “under assault.”

The Existential Necessity of Zionism After Paris: A COMMENTARY Editorial  —  I.  —  The jihadist siege of a kosher grocery store in eastern Paris on January 9 was not the beginning of a new threat to French Jews and the Jews of Europe.  Rather, it was the culmination of a decade of crisis.

Ashley Judd: ‘I might run some day’  —  Ashley Judd says voters shouldn't count her out of the political arena just yet.  —  “I might run some day,” she tells ITK, “I don't know.”  —  The “Divergent” actress famously flirted with a Kentucky Senate bid against Sen. Mitch McConnell (R).

Howard Dean's Advice to White House Hopefuls: Look the Part  —  Howard Dean knew his 2004 presidential campaign was in big trouble weeks before he punctuated a third-place Iowa caucus finish with the infamous “scream speech.”  —  By that point Mr. Dean, then the Vermont governor who went …

The new anti-Semitism: Majority of British Jews feel they have no future in UK, says new study  —  More than half of British Jewish people fear Jews have no future in the UK, according to a new study which also reveals that antisemitic sentiments are more prevalent than widely believed.

This Is Obama's Last Foreign Policy Chance  —  The failure of Obama or Biden to show up in Paris made clear that most of the president's team can't be trusted to conduct U.S national security policy and must be replaced—at once.  —  Here's why America's failure to be represented at the Paris unity march was so profoundly disturbing.

We Need Another Giant Protest  —  President Obama was criticized for failing to attend, or send a proper surrogate to, the giant antiterrorism march in Paris on Sunday.  That criticism was right.  But it is typical of American politics today that we focus on this and not what would have …

Gohmert Says US Leaders Should Emulate Egypt's Killer Dictator  —  Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) called on American leaders to emulate Egypt's military dictator, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi-a man who orchestrated a coup d'etat and has presided over the killing of more than a thousand dissidents.