Sarah Palin: MSNBC ‘despicable’  —  Sarah Palin says MSNBC should ashamed of a “despicable” segment in which they mocked Mitt Romney's adopted black grandson.  —  “Leftist media hounds are not expressing an opinion with this attack; they are expressing a prejudice that would never be accepted …

On Christmas, Republicans Quietly Declare War on Themselves  —  The holidays are a great time in politics.  Every year it's the same: the minute the last bits of wrapping paper have been cleared away, and Grandpa has passed his last puff of holiday gas, you can always retreat to the inside pages …

And The Country Posing The Greatest Threat to Peace as 2013 Ends is ...  (CNSNews.com) - The past year witnessed bloodshed in Syria and Iraq, turmoil in Egypt, anarchy in Central Africa, threats by a nuclear-armed North Korea and Chinese military posturing, but as 2013 ends a global poll finds …

The Year Washington Fled Reality  —  ‘Message discipline’ can win elections but is not a healthy way to run a country.  —  The past year may go down not only as the least productive ever in Washington but as one of the worst for the republic.  —  In both the executive branch and Congress …

Bill de Blasio On Horse-Drawn Carriage Industry: “It's Over”  —  Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio vowed to act quickly to abolish horse-drawn carriages in the city.  —  “We are going to get rid of the horse carriages.  Period,” de Blasio said in response to a question at his press conference announcing his schools chancellor pick Monday.

The Facts About Benghazi  —  An exhaustive investigation by The Times goes a long way toward resolving any nagging doubts about what precipitated the attack on the United States mission in Benghazi, Libya, last year that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

Why Obamacare Will Only Get Less Popular  —  Lisa Myers has an excellent investigative reporting piece up at NBC News documenting how one small business is dealing with Obamacare.  The quotes from the article are just brutal: … Myers does report that, “A handful of the Extreme Dodge workers came …

Change Is Obamacare's Only Certainty  —  I said in my last post that our newly implemented health-care law “is undoubtedly going to change in the near future, in ways that will make it more or less stable than it is now.”  To see what I mean, take the individual mandate.

No, Rand Paul, There's No Reason to Cut Unemployment Benefits  —  People aren't long-term unemployed because they prefer getting benefits.  People are long-term unemployed because there still aren't enough jobs.  —  Rand Paul says he cares about the unemployed.

GOP Candidate For AZ Governor Misquotes Lincoln On ‘Class Hatred’  —  A Republican gubernatorial candidate in Arizona was forced to backtrack this week after he was caught misattributing several quotes about class warfare on Twitter to Abraham Lincoln.  —  State Sen. Al Melvin (R) …

U.S. Frees Last of Uighur Detainees From Guantánamo  —  WASHINGTON — In what the Pentagon called a “significant milestone” in the effort to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the military announced on Tuesday that the United States had transferred three Chinese detainees to Slovakia.

After Attacks, Administration Offers to Help Russia Counter ‘Folks Who Want to Cause Mischief’  —  The Obama administration offered to work on Sochi Olympics security issues with Russia after a pair of bombings in Volgograd killed at least 31 people.  —  President Vladimir Putin gave instructions …

7M ObamaCare enrollment target a tall order despite recent surge  —  Experts say the Obama administration faces a tall order in hitting the 7 million enrollees the Congressional Budget Office projected would sign up for ObamaCare in 2014.  —  After a surge of enrollees in December …

Resolutions we'd like to see: Our view  —  In 2014, I resolve to ...  ... hit Ctrl+Alt+Del.  —  ... be more careful about promises that involve the words “like” and “keep.”  —  ... pay more attention to what's going on with the government IT contractors.  —  ... learn to write code.

The Biggest Political Winners and Losers of 2013  —  Chris Christie, Bill de Blasio, and an Arkansas House member head the list of political winners in 2013.  —  New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, now seen as a formidable presidential contender, is one of the biggest political winners of 2013.

State Dept. whistleblower has email hacked, deleted  —  WASHINGTON — The personal e-mail account of a State Department whis­tle­­blower was hacked, and four years worth of messages — some detailing alleged wrongdoing at the agency — were deleted, The Post has learned.

For 2014, Tweet Less, Read More  —  My mother was always lavish with advice, little of it original — she was hardly the first to caution against horizontal stripes for anyone broader than Barbie — but much of it unimpeachable.  As 2013 draws to a close and I think about the fever pitch …

Pope's sharp words make a wealthy donor hesitate  —  Cardinal Timothy Dolan on the wealthy and capitalism  —  CNBC's Michelle Caruso-Cabrera talks to Cardinal Timothy Dolan about concerns following the pope's recent comments.  —  Pope Francis' critical comments about the wealthy and capitalism …

Overdue reforms boost Mexico — and the United States  —  Most Americans have an image of Mexico as a nation convulsed by violent drug wars and enervated by the exodus of hundreds of thousands of desperate immigrants across our southern border.  —  That image is out of date.