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

U.S. House passes security funding bill blocking immigration actions  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Republicans drew a hard line against President Barack Obama's executive immigration initiatives on Wednesday, voting to block them as they passed a Department of Homeland Security spending bill.

Ohio Man Arrested for Alleged ISIS-Inspired Plot on US Capitol, FBI Says … 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.

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.

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.

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.

4 top Secret Service executives told to leave their posts in agency shake-up  —  Members of the Secret Service follow President Obama as he arrives at Northwestern University on Oct. 2, 2014, in Evanston, Ill. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)  —  The Secret Service has decided …

Arrested teen hailed as hero after helping cop who collapsed … Get unlimited digital access.  99¢ for 4 weeks.

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 …

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.

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 …

Donald Trump suing Florida county for $100 million for allegedly flying planes over his oceanside mansion  —  A Jan. 6 lawsuit says the Palm Beach County airport is deliberately rerouting planes over Trump's Mar-a-Lago mansion as revenge for past legal squabbling.

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.”

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.

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).

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.