Netanyahu set to meet Trump, as MKs urge candidate be shunned  —  Sources say December 28 powwow was scheduled two weeks ago, before GOP front-runner's call to ban Muslims from entering US; Arab-Israeli MK seeks to bar Trump from Israel  —  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set …

San Bernardino Shooters Practiced for Attack a Year in Advance  —  San Bernardino terror couple Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik spent at least a year preparing for their terror attack, NBC News has learned, practicing at a local gun range and making financial plans for their family after their deaths.

“I. Will.  Never.  Leave.  This.  Race.”  —  Donald Trump came down the stairs, stopped in the middle of the clubhouse restaurant, thrust his arms out and proclaimed: “How great is this?”  —  It was his way of saying hello and also a declaration of how America's boss planned to try to own the room …

Bitcoin's Creator Satoshi Nakamoto Is Probably This Unknown Australian Genius  —  Even as his face towered 10 feet above the crowd at the Bitcoin Investor's Conference in Las Vegas, Craig Steven Wright was, to most of the audience of crypto and finance geeks, a nobody.

University Affirmative Action Questioned at U.S. High Court  —  Members of the U.S. Supreme Court clashed over the value of university affirmative action policies, as a pivotal justice raised the prospect that the court might put off issuing a broad ruling.  —  In an argument that ran …

Cruz Won't Criticize Trump, But Offers His Own Plan To Bar Refugees  —  Texas Sen. Ted Cruz doesn't want to “get down in the mud and engage in personal insults and attacks” — one reason he's declined to criticize Donald Trump more directly in the wake of his plan to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S.

Poll: Donald Trump nearly doubles lead in New Hampshire  —  Washington (CNN)Donald Trump has a growing lead among likely primary voters in New Hampshire, and both he and Marco Rubio have gained ground in the state since September, according to a new CNN/WMUR poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center.

Douglas Tompkins, 72, North Face Founder, Dies in Kayaking Accident  —  Douglas Tompkins, a noted conservationist and the founder of the clothing brands North Face and Esprit, died Tuesday after a kayaking accident on General Carrera Lake in the Patagonia region of southern Chile.  He was 72.

Clinton intervened for firm after request to son-in-law  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton intervened in a request forwarded by her son-in-law on behalf of a deep-sea mining firm to meet with her or other State Department officials after one of the firm's investors …

Carter Banned Iranians from Coming to US During Hostage Crisis  —  Trump is a monster, a madman and a vile racist.  He's just like Hitler.  Or Jimmy Carter.  —  During the Iranian hostage crisis, Carter issued a number of orders to put pressure on Iran.  Among these, Iranians were banned …

Why I Caved on Guns When I Ran for Governor of Texas  —  I am a lifelong Democrat.  I proudly boast an “F” rating from the NRA.  And, yet during my 2014 gubernatorial campaign in Texas, I supported the open carry of handguns in my state.  —  It is a position that haunts me.

Know Your Fascist Dictators  —  As long as we're on to the subject of fascist dictators and Donald Trump is now being compared to Adolf Hitler in major urban newspapers, I thought I should speak up on behalf of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini as the true proto-Trump.  —  Mussolini wasn't just a fascist dictator.

Woman jailed after fleas kill her dog left tied-up and crying for help  —  Josefina Balderao Solis (PHOTO: Riverside Regional Jail)  —  PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, Va. — A woman convicted of misdemeanor animal cruelty was sentenced to 12-months in jail (a six-month active sentence) after fleas killed her dog.

Angela Merkel picked as Time's Person of the Year  —  German chancellor Angela Merkel is Time's Person of the Year for 2015, the magazine's editor-in-chief announced Wednesday morning.  —  “In a year where world leaders were tested all through the year, no one was tested like she was,” …

The “winners”  —  Famous last names.  Enviable poll numbers.  Establishment support.  Lots and lots of money.  The whiff of inevitability.  That's where Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton started 2015.  Both were expected to cruise to their respective parties' presidential nominations.