At The Oscar Nominations, It's A Good Year To Be An Idiosyncratic Man  —  The Oscar nominations are in (you can see the full list here), and Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel lead with nine nominations each, followed closely by The Imitation Game with eight.

‘Boy Who Came Back From Heaven’ going back to publisher  —  Tyndale House, a major Christian publisher, has announced that it will stop selling “The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven,” by Alex Malarkey and his father, Kevin Malarkey.  —  The best-selling book, first published in 2010 …

2 Suspects Killed in Gun Battle in Belgian Antiterror Raid  —  BRUSSELS — As the Belgian authorities unleashed a new campaign against suspected terrorists on Thursday that unfolded across the country with raids and arrests, in one of the raids, near the German border, officers came under …

Obama to Senate Dems: 'I'm going to play offense'  —  The president said he's prepared to veto hostile legislation, including an Iran sanctions package.  —  President Barack Obama made clear Thursday in a closed-door session with Senate Democrats that he's prepared to veto hostile legislation …

Obamacare Has Reversed A Negative Trend.  Researchers Call It ‘Remarkable.’  —  For the first time in a decade, the number of people struggling to pay their medical bills has started to decline, according to a new survey released on Thursday by the Commonwealth Fund.

America Will Miss Obama When He's Gone  —  It's 2018, and Barack Obama leans toward the computer in his Chicago townhouse and punches in the title of his memoir.  He enjoys the silence and the solitude.  It's been over a decade since he had time to write.  This is Obama's third memoir and probably not the last.

GOP makes U-turn on net neutrality  —  Republicans in Congress are doing a 180 on net neutrality as the Federal Communications Commission prepares to issue new rules within weeks.  —  For years, GOP lawmakers have adamantly opposed any rules requiring Internet service providers to treat …

All-women's college cancels ‘Vagina Monologues’ because it's not feminist enough  — Mount Holyoke College, an all-women's school, announced in a campus-wide email that the Theatre Board has cancelled its annual production of the “Vagina Monologues.”  — The board has decided to retire …

Obama Said to Seek 7% Budget Boost, Setting Up Fight With Congress  —  (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama will ask Congress for as much as $68 billion more than current budget limits in fiscal 2016, according to two people familiar with the administration's proposal.

Ron Paul Institute Publishes a Charlie Hebdo ‘False Flag’ Piece  —  Yesterday, the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity made the affirmative decision to republish a piece by Paul Craig Roberts that RPI affixed with the headline: “Charlie Hebdo Shootings: False Flag?”  Here's how it begins:

The Supreme Court Is Likely To Set Up The Same-Sex Marriage Showdown On Friday  —  A guide.  —  Getty Images/Alex Wong  —  This will be the second time the justices have considered whether to take any of the cases out of Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and/or Tennessee.

Nebraska Board Of Education Member Runs Racist, Anti-LGBT Blog  —  Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts started off his first term as governor this week by having to condemn a Republican member the state board of education, Pat McPherson, for running a conservative political blog that repeatedly referred to President Obama as a “half-breed.”

Parents investigated for neglect after letting kids walk home alone  —  It was a one-mile walk home from a Silver Spring park on Georgia Avenue on a Saturday afternoon.  But what the parents saw as a moment of independence for their 10-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter, they say authorities viewed much differently.

White House Knew Of CIA Snooping on Senate, Report Says  —  WASHINGTON — Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan consulted the White House before directing agency personnel to sift through a walled-off computer drive being used by the Senate Intelligence Committee to construct …

John Dehlin, Mormon Critic, Facing Excommunication  —  Credit: Richard Perry/The New York Times  —  The Mormon Church has moved to excommunicate the prominent Utah-based founder of an online forum for critical or doubting Mormons, charging him with apostasy for supporting same-sex marriage …

Why Pope Francis Is Wrong About Free Expression  —  We heathens can leave the theological debate to others.  —  But Pope Francis, the Bishop of Rome and world leader of the Catholic Church, has some ideas about laws governing the secular world.  We expect Francis to defend the dignity of faith …