I Am Not Charlie Hebdo  —  The journalists at Charlie Hebdo are now rightly being celebrated as martyrs on behalf of freedom of expression, but let's face it: If they had tried to publish their satirical newspaper on any American university campus over the last two decades it wouldn't have lasted 30 seconds.

The President Proposes to Make Community College Free for Responsible Students for 2 Years  —  Post by The White House.  —  Today, the President unveiled a new proposal: Make two years of community college free for responsible students across America.  —  In our growing global economy …

House votes down ObamaCare's 30-hour workweek, 252-172  —  The House on Thursday in a 252-172 vote approved legislation that would waive fees on businesses that do not offer health insurance to employees working fewer than 40 hours per week.  —  The legislation - which has been at the center …

Bush Team Sets Bold Fundraising Goal: $100 Million in Three Months  —  Jeb Bush's allies are setting a fundraising goal of $100 million in the first three months of this year—including a whopping $25 million haul in Florida—in an effort to winnow the potential Republican presidential primary field …

Does Islam Mean Peace?  —  The NY Times boldly takes on the Big Questions - is Islam inherently violent?  Their nuance take will surprise no one, but it is interesting nonetheless.  And the Speech by Egyptian President el-Sisi calling (yet again) for an Islamic reformation finally gets noticed:

U.S. Liberals at Record 24%, but Still Trail Conservatives  —  Story Highlights  —  PRINCETON, N.J. — Conservatives continued to outnumber moderates and liberals in the U.S. population in 2014, as they have since 2009.  However, their 14-percentage-point edge over liberals last year …

Source: Tom Steyer considering run for Barbara Boxer's seat  —  Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer is mulling a run for Barbara Boxer's Senate seat, according to a person close to the former hedge fund trader.  —  “My sense is that he will take a look at it and consider it over the next few days or so,” the person said.

Voodoo Time Machine  —  Many of us in the econ biz were wondering how the new leaders of Congress would respond to the sharp increase in American economic growth that, we now know, began last spring.  After years of insisting that President Obama is responsible for a weak economy …

Three Georgia Men Charged With Domestic Terrorism  —  Will Lindsey Graham have anything to say about this?  —  2015 is beginning with a bang, as the indictments roll in and more home-grown terrorist plots are revealed.  —  Here's one from Rome, Georgia, a picturesque Southern town that might be an idyllic vacation spot.

California newspaper office vandalized over use of ‘illegal’ immigrant label  —  The headquarters of the Santa Barbara News-Press in California was vandalized, apparently by pro-illegal immigration activists.  —  A California newspaper will continue to use the term “illegals” …

Nebraska court clears obstacle for Keystone pipeline  —  The Nebraska Supreme Court removed a major obstacle to the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline on Friday, making it more likely that President Barack Obama will have to render a verdict in the coming months on a controversy that has spanned his time in the White House.

Bill Looks to Prevent Gay Marriage From Becoming Legal … *Editor's note: This story has been updated with a response from Equality Texas.  —  State or local government employees giving out same-sex marriage licenses would stop receiving their salaries under a bill filed Wednesday for the 84th legislative session.

Dean Baquet addresses NYT's republication of anti-Semitic cartoons  —  New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet decided that his paper would not publish Charlie Hebdo's cartoons of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad primarily because he did not want to insult the paper's Muslim readers.

The Politics of Financial Insecurity  —  A Democratic Tilt, Undercut by Low Participation  —  When it comes to choosing a party's candidate in the voting booth, one pattern in modern American politics is so familiar it has become a truism: the rich vote Republican, the poor vote Democratic.