Watchdog Report Says N.S.A. Program Is Illegal and Should End  —  WASHINGTON — An independent federal privacy watchdog has concluded that the National Security Agency's program to collect bulk phone call records has provided only “minimal” benefits in counterterrorism efforts, is illegal and should be shut down.

Virginia to fight same-sex marriage ban  —  Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring will announce Thursday that he believes the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and that Virginia will join two same-sex couples in asking a federal court to strike it down …

Schumer seeks to poison Tea Party  —  Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the Senate Democrats' political guru, has a plan to poison the Tea Party by driving a wedge between its rich funders and its blue-collar rank and file.  —  Schumer, one of the Democrats' most influential strategists …

Biggest Liberal ‘Super PAC’ to Fund Possible Clinton Bid  —  The largest liberal “super PAC” in the country has begun raising money to elect Hillary Rodham Clinton president, formally aligning itself with Mrs. Clinton's undeclared presidential ambitions more than two years away from the election.

CNN lays off more than 40 journalists  —  CNN has laid off more than 40 senior journalists in its newsgathering operation - including a pregnant producer who was two weeks away from giving birth to twins - as part of a reorganisation of the business under Jeff Zucker.

The Heritage Foundation Might Be Shedding Some Of Its Crazy Soon  —  2013 wasn't exactly been a banner year for the Heritage Foundation, Washington's most well-known and influential conservative think tank.  —  In its first year under former senator and tea party godfather Jim DeMint …

Obama State of the Union to focus on income inequality  —  President Obama will try to pump some vitality into a lackluster second term on Tuesday when he delivers his State of the Union address.  —  The address will include a “healthy dose” of the income inequality message the White House …

Leaning Right in Hollywood, Under a Lens  —  LOS ANGELES — In a famously left-leaning Hollywood, where Democratic fund-raisers fill the social calendar, Friends of Abe stands out as a conservative group that bucks the prevailing political winds.  —  A collection of perhaps 1,500 right-leaning players …

Guns Make Voting Even Harder  —  If you want to feel truly dispirited about the health of U.S. democracy, skip the stories about Chris Christie and Bob McDonnell and go straight to today's report on the American voting experience.  —  The report, by a presidentially appointed commission …

Justin Bieber arrested in Miami Beach over DUI, drag-racing  —  After allegedly smoking pot all day, drinking beer and popping anti-depressants, bad-boy pop star Justin Bieber went on a wild pre-dawn drag race in Miami Beach that landed him in jail Thursday morning, police said.

Gregory Hicks: Benghazi and the Smearing of Chris Stevens  —  Shifting blame to our dead ambassador is wrong on the facts.  I know—I was there.  —  Last week the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence issued its report on the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya.

Mayor de Blasio admits mistakes in snow removal on New York's Upper East Side  —  ‘I determined more could have been done to serve the Upper East Side,’ a chastened de Blasio said in a statement.  Just hours earlier, the mayor dismissed as flaky reports that the high-priced 'hood got shafted …

Poll Shows Most Republicans Think People Are Poor Because They Don't Work Hard Enough  —  Whether you're rich or poor, Republicans believe that's on you.  —  New findings released Thursday by Pew showed that most Republicans think rich people are largely responsible for their socioeconomic status.

GOP House Candidate Says God Created Autism, Dementia And Tornadoes To Punish Gays  —  An Illinois Republican running for Congress believes God unleashed debilitating disorders and destructive natural disorders because he is so upset with the growing support for same-sex rights marriage.

Security Check Firm Said to Have Defrauded U.S.  —  The company that conducted a background investigation on the contractor Edward J. Snowden fraudulently signed off on hundreds of thousands of incomplete security checks in recent years, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

Hoboken Mayor Is Said to Have Told of Threat  —  Federal authorities in New Jersey have interviewed several witnesses who said the mayor of Hoboken told them in May about a state official's threat to withhold hurricane recovery funds if the mayor did not support a development project favored by the governor …

Shell's Arctic Offshore Drilling Ambitions Stymied In Appeals Court  —  Royal Dutch Shell drilling rig Kulluk aground off a small island near Kodiak Island.  —  CREDIT: U.S. Coast Guard  —  Shell's ambitions to drill for oil off the coast of Alaska received another blow Wednesday …

The Fiscal Reality and its Politics  —  Ever since the election of 1992, fiscal conservatives in both parties—and in third parties—have tried to make the federal deficit a central political and economic issue.  In a series of articles and books beginning in 1982, the billionaire investor …

In U.S., Uninsured Rate Shows Initial Decline in 2014  —  Uninsured rate drops most among the unemployed and nonwhites  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. uninsured rate is 16.1% so far in January, modestly down from 17.3% in December after the Affordable Care Act's requirement for Americans …

Upward Mobility Has Not Declined, Study Says  —  The odds of moving up — or down — the income ladder in the United States have not changed appreciably in the last 20 years, according to a large new academic study that contradicts politicians in both parties who have claimed that income mobility is falling.

Hannity to attend State of the Union with Rep. Gohmert, may run for office in Texas  —  Sean Hannity on Fox News, Jan. 21, 2014  —  WASHINGTON — The guest list for President Obama's upcoming State of the Union address just got more interesting.  —  Yesterday, Sean Hannity said he'd be attending as a guest of Rep. Louie Gohmert.

Congressman: ‘The Wife Is To Voluntarily Submit’ To Her Husband  —  Republican lawmakers can't seem to stop offending women, in spite of the GOP's stated goal to attract women voters.  Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM) explains in his recent memoir that it is the wife's role to “voluntarily submit …