Joni Ernst to Deliver Republican Response to the State of the Union  —  Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa will be delivering the Republican response to the State of the Union Address, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced today in a press conference.  —  The State of the Union is scheduled for next week.

Report: Two killed in Belgian anti-terror operation  —  Video shows anti-terror raid in Belgium 01:40  —  Story highlights  —  (CNN)[Breaking news update, 2:32 p.m.]  —  The group that Belgian authorities confronted Thursday was about to carry out major terrorist attacks in Belgium imminently …

Why Ava DuVernay's ‘Selma’ Oscar Snub Matters  —  The Oscar nominations were announced this morning.  There will be plenty of analysis regarding good surprises and bad surprises, and I may dip my toes in later today.  But the most egregious omission is the sadly not-entirely-surprising absence …

Pope on Charlie Hebdo: There are limits to free expression  —  Associated Press 2 hrs ago  —  ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis said Thursday there are limits to freedom of expression, especially when it insults or ridicules someone's faith.  —  Francis spoke about the Paris terror attacks …

CHRISTIE'S MATH PROBLEM: Seeking same donors as Jeb, Mitt — COLIN REED to Romney - WHITE HOUSE CATCHES UP WITH COUNTRY, rewires State of the Union — LIESL HICKEY to Teneo  —  By Mike Allen (mallen@politico.com; @mikeallen), with Daniel Lippman (dlippman@politico.com; @dlippman)  —  Good Thursday morning.

U.S. Easing Decades-Old Restrictions on Travel to Cuba  —  WASHINGTON — The United States government on Friday will begin making it easier for Americans to travel to Cuba than it has been for more than half a century, opening the door to a new era of contact between neighbors …

Minutes highlight Scalise efforts to kill resolution apologizing for slavery  —  The minutes from a 1996 Louisiana House committee meeting show the efforts that then-state Rep. Steve Scalise took to water down — and try to kill — a resolution apologizing for the role slavery played in the state's history.

Oops!  “In Dog We Trust” printed within Pinellas County Sheriff's emblem on new rugs  —  Two newly rolled out rugs at the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office administration building sure looked nice while they lasted.  —  They were placed at the front entrance— bright green with the sheriff's bold, yellow emblem.

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.

Charlie Hebdo Shootings: False Flag?  —  The Charlie Hebdo affair has many of the characteristics of a false flag operation.  The attack on the cartoonists' office was a disciplined professional attack of the kind associated with highly trained special forces; yet the suspects who were later corralled …

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.

Does the Democratic Party Have a Future?  —  When Republicans lose an election, the response from the press is immediate and overwhelming: Republicans need to move to the left and be more like Democrats.  But somehow, when the Democrats' power slips away over a series of election cycles, the message is quite different.

U-Va. Phi Psi members speak about impact of discredited gang rape allegations  —  CHARLOTTESVILLE — The Phi Kappa Psi brothers sat together in a bedroom, turning the glossy magazine pages as they absorbed the account of a gang rape that allegedly took place within the brick walls around them.

How Barack Obama is avoiding becoming George W. Bush  —  President Obama delivers his penultimate State of the Union address on Tuesday — a speech that is expected to set the course for his work with the newly GOP-controlled Congress over his final two years in office.

‘If you snitch, your career is done’: Former Baltimore cop says he was harassed, labeled a ‘rat’ after attempt to root out police brutality  —  Det.  Joseph Crystal witnessed a handcuffed drug suspect beaten and his ankle broken by a fellow Baltimore police officer.