Obama plays Robin Hood  —  The White House wants President Obama to play the part of Robin Hood at Tuesday's State of the Union address.  —  Obama hopes to use the big speech to remove a blemish of his presidency: an economic recovery that has left wage growth behind.  —  Free community college.

France Was Attacked by Islamic Fundamentalism  —  Paris — “To misname things is to add to the world's unhappiness.”  Whether or not Albert Camus really did utter these words, they are an astonishingly apt description of the situation in which the French government now finds itself.

McConnell's cunning Keystone game  —  Sen. Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) strategy for defeating Democrats in the final two years of the Obama administration is clear: divide and conquer.  —  Last week, the Senate majority leader got 10 Democrats to vote with the GOP for a motion to continue debate …

MLK was ‘divisive,’ DHS secretary recalls  —  Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said on Monday that Martin Luther King Jr. was “divisive” in his time, as he sought to remind the public what the famous civil rights leader really stood for.  —  “Almost every American alive knows …

The Search for a Slogan  —  What Hillary, Jeb, Rand and the rest could learn from the history of campaign catchphrases.  —  With the dawn of the new year, the campaigns for president are moving into high gear, at least in private.  Strategies are being fine-tuned, consultants and staff are being hired, donors are choosing sides.

NYC may yank terrorism report to appease mosque ‘spying’ critics  —  Zale Thompson, a man who heeded online calls by ISIS for jihad, attacked two NYPD officers with a hatchet in October.  —  In top-secret talks to settle federal lawsuits against the NYPD for monitoring mosques …

Gay Marriage Case Offers G.O.P. Political Cover  —  WASHINGTON — The news Friday that the Supreme Court will rule on same-sex marriage brought elation from gays and lesbians who are hopeful the justices will grant them the constitutional protections they have long sought.

U.S.-built Ebola treatment centers in Liberia are nearly empty as outbreak fades  —  TUBMANBURG, Liberia — Near the hillside shelter where dozens of men and women died of Ebola, a row of green U.S. military tents sit atop a vast expanse of imported gravel.  The generators hum …

Hating Good Government  —  It's now official: 2014 was the warmest year on record.  You might expect this to be a politically important milestone.  After all, climate change deniers have long used the blip of 1998 — an unusually hot year, mainly due to an upwelling of warm water in the Pacific …

Who would Americans like to see on the campaign trail in 2016?  —  Shares -  —  The list of potential candidates for the presidency in 2016 is immense.  The list of declared contenders, though, is nonexistent.  —  If the latest CBS News poll is any indication, Americans would like to see a number …

GCHQ captured emails of journalists from top international media  —  • Snowden files reveal emails of BBC, NY Times and more  —  • Agency includes investigative journalists on ‘threat’ list  —  • Editors call on Cameron to act against snooping on media

Scalia Lands at Top of Sarcasm Index of Justices.  Shocking.  —  WASHINGTON — Justice Antonin Scalia has a sharp tongue and a cutting writing style.  His signature mode is sarcasm.  —  It was on display last week when a lawyer made the mistake of saying that Justice Scalia was right — but only “in a literal sense.”

N.S.A. Breached North Korean Networks Before Sony Attack, Officials Say  —  WASHINGTON — The trail that led American officials to blame North Korea for the destructive cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment in November winds back to 2010, when the National Security Agency scrambled …