Obama mocks GOP hopefuls for CNBC snit  —  President Obama on Monday mocked Republican presidential candidates as thin-skinned for lashing out at CNBC over the network's handling of last week's primary debate.  —  “They say, 'when I talk to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin …

NBC/WSJ Poll: Carson Surges Into Lead of National GOP Race  —  Ben Carson has surged into the lead of the Republican presidential race, getting support from 29 percent of GOP primary voters, according to a brand-new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.  —  That's the highest percentage …

U.S. Public Becoming Less Religious  —  Modest Drop in Overall Rates of Belief and Practice, but Religiously Affiliated Americans Are as Observant as Before  —  Is the American public becoming less religious?  Yes, at least by some key measures of what it means to be a religious person.

Illinois District Violated Transgender Student's Rights, U.S. Says  —  CHICAGO — Federal education authorities found on Monday that an Illinois school district had violated anti-discrimination laws when it did not allow a transgender student who identifies as a girl and participates in athletics …

In Religious Arbitration, Scripture Is the Rule of Law  —  A few months before he took a toxic mix of drugs and died on a stranger's couch, Nicklaus Ellison wrote a letter to his little sister.  —  He asked for Jolly Ranchers, Starburst and Silly Bandz bracelets, some of the treats permitted …

Charles Koch Says He, Brother Largely Fail at Influence-Buying  —  “So far we're largely failures at it, as you can tell,” Republican mega-donor Charles Koch says in interview on MSNBC's “Morning Joe” when asked if he is buying political influence and if that is at odds with his desire to end so-called corporate welfare.

Franken gets serious about flipping Senate to Democrats  —  On a recent October afternoon, Democratic Sen. Al Franken mistakenly ambled toward the Mansfield Room, where the party in control — namely Republicans — meets weekly to hash out strategy.  —  “I keep thinking we're in the majority …

Ahmad Chalabi, Iraqi Politician Who Pushed for U.S. Invasion, Dies at 71  —  Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi politician who from exile helped persuade the United States to invade Iraq in 2003, and then unsuccessfully tried to attain power as his country was nearly torn apart by sectarian violence, died at his home in Baghdad on Tuesday.

Dashcam video undermines Texas prof's claim of racial profiling, says chief  —  A Texas journalism professor's explosive charge that police hassled her for “walking while black,” a claim lodged in a guest column in the state's biggest newspaper, doesn't square with the videotape, according to the police chief.

Being married to Bernie  —  From the stage at the first Democratic presidential debate, nearly all the candidates opened with talk about their families.  —  “My wife, Hong, came to this country as a refugee from war-torn Vietnam,” said Jim Webb, who then went on to name his five children …

Ben Carson on Americans: “Many of Them Are Stupid.”  —  When retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, the current GOP 2016 front-runner, campaigns, he routinely pitches “common sense solutions from We the People.”  But it seems the candidate who celebrates a cheerful and straightforward populism …

Speaker Paul Ryan Moves Fast to ‘Detoxify’ Boehner's Smoky Suite  —  WASHINGTON — There are many things Americans cannot yet know about Speaker Paul D. Ryan's plans for his fancy new digs on Capitol Hill.  Dark curtains or sheers?  Memorabilia from the 2012 presidential campaign or his first House race in 1998?

Climate Change Kills the Mood: Economists Warn of Less Sex on a Warmer Planet  —  And fewer babies would be bad news.  —  Climate change has been blamed for many things over the years.  Never, until now, has anyone thought it was possible to see it as a kind of contraceptive.

Leaked DHS memo shows Obama might circumvent DAPA injunction  —  A newly leaked internal DHS memorandum produced for an off-the-record agency conclave reveals that the Obama administration is actively planning to circumvent a federal court injunction that suspended part of last November's deferral-based amnesty initiative.

Satellite Shows Heat Flash When Russian Metrojet Plane Crashed, But No Missile: U.S. Officials  —  While many have speculated that a missile may have struck a Russian commercial airliner that went down over Egypt's Sinai peninsula, U.S. officials are now saying satellite imagery doesn't back up that theory.

Obama tells federal agencies to ‘ban the box’ on federal job applications  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama said Monday he was directing federal agencies to “ban the box” in their hiring decisions, prohibiting them from asking prospective government employees about their criminal histories on job applications.