Kerry Brings Paris a ‘Big Hug’ And James Taylor After Attacks  —  Secretary of State John Kerry, the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit France since Islamic militant attacks in Paris left 17 dead, met with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and French President Francois Hollande to offer condolences this morning.

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 …

NASA, NOAA Find 2014 Warmest Year in Modern Record  —  The year 2014 ranks as Earth's warmest since 1880, according to two separate analyses by NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists.  —  The 10 warmest years in the instrumental record, with the exception of 1998, have now occurred since 2000.

Ben Carson to the GOP Establishment: I'm Not ‘Crazy’  —  The political novice with eyes on 2016 auditions before the RNC and blames his zealot image on the mainstream media.  —  CORONADO, Calif. — Ben Carson—a Washington outsider, a world-renowned neurosurgeon, a favorite among tea-party insurgents …

EXCLUSIVE: Married NYPD cop accused of kissing, groping rape victim after booze-filled night in Seattle  —  Detective Lukasz Skorzewski was investigating the rape of a 24-year-old woman when he flew to Seattle, drank with her all night and got physical with her in a hotel room, the college student alleges.

Key Obamacare Official Stepping Down  —  A senior government official with almost unparalleled authority over the U.S. health care system is stepping down, ending a tenure that included one highly publicized, highly consequential failure on Obamacare as well as significant, if less heralded, successes.

Belgium Verviers plot ‘aimed to kill police’  —  A suspected jihadist group targeted in a major anti-terror raid on Thursday had been planning to kill policemen in the street and at police stations, Belgian prosecutors say.  —  The planned attacks were imminent, they said …

VIDEO: Ex-Navy SEAL Pretends To ‘Choke Out’ Obama  —  Chris Heben had an unusual year in 2014.  —  The former Navy SEAL made national headlines in March when he was shot by what he described as three black assailants.  Then he was in the news again in September when prosecutors alleged he'd lied to police about the ordeal.

The mystery of shellshock solved: Scientists identify the unique brain injury caused by war  —  When the war poet Wilfred Owen wrote of “men whose minds the Dead have ravished” he was attempting to describe the mysterious effects of shellshock which started appearing during the First World War and of which he himself was a sufferer.

Regime Change in Switzerland  —  Blogging will be limited for the next few days, unless I can resolve the tech problems here in Delhi.  But I did want to say something about the Swiss de-pegging, beyond what I put in the column.  —  These days it's fairly widely accepted that it's very hard …

Don't Do It, Mr. Romney  —  He'd have been a better president than Obama.  That's not nearly enough.  —  Hershey, Pa.  —  A conversation with a Republican governor who is a possible presidential aspirant:  —  I told him I'd been thinking about something and wanted his response.

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 …

Democrat condemns ‘shocking’ comments about Muslim lawmaker  —  A top House Democrat on Thursday condemned suggestions from conservative websites that Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.), a Muslim, should not have been appointed to the House Intelligence Committee.  —  It has “come to my attention …

[Update] Video: Subway Rider Upstages Homophobic Preacher With Willy Wonka Song  —  As Grandpa Joe once sang, he may have never dreamed that he would climb over the subway preacher in musical ecstasy, but nevertheless it's there that he a short time ago was.

‘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 …

GOP Retreat: Rep. Jeff Denham Says Party's Quietly Crafting Broad Immigration Bill  —  The GOP's most outspoken proponent of comprehensive immigration reform let loose in an interview with reporters here, detailing quiet efforts to draft far-reaching legislation, saying House leadership is …

Al Sharpton Calls For Emergency Meeting To Address ‘Appalling’ All-White Oscar Nominees  —  The Rev. Al Sharpton was left fuming mad after the Oscars revealed its all-white list of nominees for this year's Oscar awards on Thursday.  —  “The movie industry is like the Rocky Mountains …