Ben Carson's unusual theory about pyramids  —  NAPLES, Florida — Ben Carson stood by his long-held belief about ancient pyramids in Egypt, that they were used to store grain, rather than to inter pharaohs.  —  Asked about this Wednesday, Carson told CBS News, “It's still my belief, yes.”

Elder Bush Says His Son Was Served Badly by Aides  —  WASHINGTON — After years of holding back, former President George Bush has finally broken his public silence about some of the key figures in his son's administration, issuing scathing critiques of Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

Ben Carson States, Wrongly, That Founding Fathers ‘Had No Elected Office Experience’  —  Ben Carson tried to compare his own lack of political experience to that of the Founding Fathers.  The trouble is, he got his history wrong.  —  In a Facebook post late Wednesday, Mr. Carson …

UC Merced stabbing suspect identified as Faisal Mohammad after he was shot dead  —  A student who stabbed four people inside a classroom at the University of California, Merced, before he was killed by police has been identified.  —  Faisal Mohammad, a freshman from Santa Clara who majored …

Bindi Irwin — Judge Rejects ‘DWTS’ Contract ... No Proof Her Dad Died  —  JUDGE REJECTS ‘DWTS’ CONTRACT  —  No Proof Her Dad Died … Bindi Irwin is caught in a tangled legal web ... her “Dancing with the Stars” contract just got rejected because a judge needs proof her dad is dead.

Bernie Sanders Takes Gloves Off Against Hillary Clinton in Interview  —  Democratic presidential candidate draws sharper distinctions with front-runner, casting her policy reversals as a character issue  —  Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is drawing sharper distinctions …

Exxon Mobil Investigated in New York Over Possible Lies on Climate  —  The New York attorney general has begun a sweeping investigation of Exxon Mobil to determine whether the company lied to the public about the risks of climate change or to investors about how those risks might hurt the oil business.

War On Christmas: Starbucks Red Cups Are Emblematic Of The Christian Culture Cleansing Of The West  —  Before I knew what coffee was supposed to taste like, my friends and I used trot off to my nearest Starbucks almost every day (we thought we were très sophistiqué) after school …

Right-wing media aims at Rubio  —  Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has a conservative media problem.  —  Rubio's past support for immigration reform infuriated some of the big-name conservative media personalities who backed his upstart Tea Party bid in 2010, and they're taking retribution now that he's rising in the presidential polls.

The Path to a Wild GOP Convention  —  Primary rules open the possibility that no candidate will win a majority of delegates.  —  At the past 16 Republican National Conventions, the party's presidential nominee has been selected on the first ballot.  That long streak might end next year.

Explaining Extreme Events of 2014  —  Human activities, such as greenhouse gas emissions and land use, influenced specific extreme weather and climate events in 2014, including tropical cyclones in the central Pacific, heavy rainfall in Europe, drought in East Africa, and stifling heat waves in Australia …

Marco Rubio Lashes Back at Donald Trump Over Credit Card Flap  —  CONCORD, N.H. - One day after declining to return fire at Donald J. Trump for ridiculing his past difficulties with a credit card, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida lashed back, mocking the real estate magnate for his own record of business bankruptcies.

Collapsing Obamacare Co-ops Signal Big Trouble to Come  —  A key piece of the Obama administration's plan to control the health insurance market is in a state of collapse.  With it will go the philosophical underpinning of big government solutions to private-sector problems …

The World's Highest-Paid Women In Music 2015  —  The top-earning woman in the music business has been cashing in on a massive world tour, a constant stream of hit singles and a string of endorsements with a slew of major companies, while occasionally throwing thinly veiled barbs at her chief rival.

Pentagon paid sports teams millions for patriotic events  —  There is no solid evidence the events helped recruiting efforts.  —  WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has paid more than $9 million to professional sports franchises the past four years, including $6.8 million to stage “paid patriotism” …

Our Big Series On Inequality  —  As all of you know, the topic of growing wealth and income inequality in America has moved to the center of American politics over the last handful of years - not just among Democrats but even Republicans, though the suggested solutions are quite different from each party.

Pentagon Farmed Out Its Coding to Russia  —  By Patrick Malone, Center for Public Integrity  —  The Pentagon was tipped off in 2011 by a longtime Army contractor that Russian computer programmers were helping to write computer software for sensitive U.S. military communications systems …