Rand Paul and Carly Fiorina Cut From Next Republican Mainstage Debate  —  Republican presidential candidates Rand Paul and Carly Fiorina have been cut from the next mainstage debate on Thursday.  —  According to a newly-announced lineup by debate host Fox Business Network …

New Republic Owner Chris Hughes Puts Magazine Up For Sale  —  Facebook co-founder, who purchased the title in 2012, says magazine needs a new business model  —  The New Republic, the century-old magazine that was rocked a year ago by the mass exodus of its staff following an effort by its owner …

Journalists: Stop Complaining About Sean Penn  —  Awakened from its holiday hibernation, the journalistic orthodoxy massed yesterday to attack Sean Penn and Rolling Stone for their 11,000-word story/interview with Joaquin Archivaldo Guzman Loera—aka El Chapo.

Last Slide  —  Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad said Monday that the issue of whether U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is legally eligible to run for the presidency because he was born in Canada is “fair game” on the Republican campaign trail.  —  “When you run for president of the United States, any question is fair game.

Trump pleads with FBI to go after Clinton for email scandal  —  Donald Trump on Monday pleaded, with slight jest, for the FBI to go after Hillary Clinton for exclusively using a private email server which she was secretary of state, declaring that he would rather run against Bernie Sanders in the general election.

FBI's Clinton probe expands to public corruption track  —  Jan. 10, 2015: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton addresses an audience during an event in Hooksett, N.H. (AP)  —  EXCLUSIVE: The FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of private email as secretary of state …

DAVID BROOKS, YOU SAY TED CRUZ IS “SATANIC” AS IF THAT'S A BAD THING  —  From Politico, I see that David Brooks thinks Ted Cruz's rhetoric is excessively gloomy: … Brooks thinks that's a recipe for failure.  He thinks Marco Rubio has a much better approach, although he worries that Rubio is mimicking Cruz.

Angry white women  —  Who knew white women had become so angry?  —  The anger animating the divide between the GOP establishment and the GOP grassroots is always presented in terms of angry white men.  —  It is impossible to ignore, as The Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin noted last week …

Europe is enabling a rape culture  —  In the wake of horrifying tales of sexual assault perpetrated by potentially up to 1,000 men on New Year's Eve, German officials have made two stunning decisions.  —  The first, from Cologne, Germany — where the attacks took place …

DNC chief: Nikki Haley rebutting Obama because of GOP's ‘diversity problem’  —  The chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Monday slammed the Republican Party's selection of South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley for its State of the Union response, calling it “appalling,” according to a Post and Courier report.

My Right to Die: Assisted Suicide, My Family, and Me  —  Every story has a beginning.  This one starts in late 2001, when my father-in-law fractured three of his ribs.  Harry was a retired physician, and after a thorough workup that he insisted on, it turned out that his bone density …

Supreme Court Seems Poised to Deal Unions a Major Setback  —  WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court seemed poised on Monday to deliver a severe blow to organized labor.  —  The justices appeared divided along familiar lines during an extended argument over whether government workers who choose …

U.S. may send more strategic weapons to Korean peninsula: South Korea  —  The United States and its ally South Korea were discussing on Monday sending more strategic U.S. weapons to the Korean peninsula, a day after a U.S. B-52 bomber flew over South Korea in response to North Korea's nuclear test last week.

Clinton Considered Secret Plan to Spark Palestinian Protests  —  Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton considered a secret plan created by her then-advisers to foment unrest among Palestinian citizens and spark protests in order to push the Israeli government back to the negotiating table …

Another View — John H. Sununu: Don't drink the Trump Kool-Aid  —  Most of us know “Drinking the Kool-Aid” refers to a commitment to an idea without comprehending the implications of that commitment.  We remember that this phrase derives from the horrible tragedy of 1978 where 900 followers …

Michelle King is new superintendent for Los Angeles Unified School District  —  Michelle King served as L.A. Unified's No. 2 administrator under the two previous superintendents before applying for the top job herself.  —  The Los Angeles Board of Education on Monday named Deputy Supt.

Father of Koch Brothers Helped Build Nazi Oil Refinery, Book Says  —  The father of the billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch helped construct a major oil refinery in Nazi Germany that was personally approved by Adolf Hitler, according to a new history of the Kochs and other wealthy families.