With New Charlie Hebdo Cover, News Value Should Have Prevailed  —  Readers responded passionately, and in large numbers, to my post last week about The Times's decision not to publish the now-famous Charlie Hebdo cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.  (In fact, I've never had more comments on a post or column.)

Romney crafting a rationale for 2016 run  —  Focus on poor, foreign policy

U.S. House passes security funding bill blocking immigration actions  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Republicans drew a hard line against President Barack Obama's executive immigration initiatives on Wednesday, voting to block them as they passed a Department of Homeland Security spending bill.

Bartender's Threat against John Boehner Thwarted  —  The FBI says an Ohio bartender planned to kill House Speaker John Boehner last October by poisoning his drink at a country club.  —  The question is: Would anyone have noticed?  Stories about Boehner's drinking have circulated for years.

Paul Ryan isn't running for president.  He's after something even bigger.  —  Most politicians who can gin up presidential speculation do (see Gingrich, Newt).  It means more reporters covering their speeches, more money for their PAC, more invitations to the Sunday shows.

We Need Another Giant Protest  —  President Obama was criticized for failing to attend, or send a proper surrogate to, the giant antiterrorism march in Paris on Sunday.  That criticism was right.  But it is typical of American politics today that we focus on this and not what would have …

Women and Leadership  —  Public Says Women are Equally Qualified, but Barriers Persist  —  According to the majority of Americans, women are every bit as capable of being good political leaders as men.  The same can be said of their ability to dominate the corporate boardroom.

DENVER AND THE WEST  —  FAMILY: LAKEWOOD CHURCH STOPS WOMAN'S FUNERAL BECAUSE SHE WAS GAY  —  LAKEWOOD — Hundreds of Vanessa Collier's friends and family gathered Saturday at New Hope Ministries, sitting before an open casket holding the woman they loved, when suddenly the minister overseeing her funeral stopped the service.

Jimmy Carter — Huckabee's Wrong on Everything ... Not Just Obamas' Parenting Skills  —  HUCKABEE'S WRONG ON EVERYTHING  —  Not Just Obamas' Parenting Skills  —  EXCLUSIVE  —  Jimmy Carter slammed Mike Huckabee Tuesday for criticizing the Obamas' parenting skills.

Obama's approval rating ticks up in 2015  —  Shares -  —  President Obama's overall job approval rating has risen seven points since last October, although it still remains below 50 percent.  Forty-six percent of Americans now approve of the job the president is doing, while just as many disapprove.

JPMorgan CEO Dimon Says Banks ‘Under Assault’ by U.S. Regulators  —  Jamie Dimon, grappling with multibillion-dollar legal costs and rising capital requirements at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), lashed out at U.S. regulators for putting his bank “under assault.”

The Existential Necessity of Zionism After Paris: A COMMENTARY Editorial  —  I.  —  The jihadist siege of a kosher grocery store in eastern Paris on January 9 was not the beginning of a new threat to French Jews and the Jews of Europe.  Rather, it was the culmination of a decade of crisis.

PBA's Patrick Lynch spurs yelling, shoving among cops over NYPD-City Hall feud  —  The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association was not so much on Tuesday as some cops shouted down Lynch regarding his demand that Mayor de Blasio apologize over comments related to race and police relations.

Former highest-ranking U.S. cardinal blames ‘feminization’ for the Catholic Church's problems  —  Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke is a man with a lot of enemies.  The former archbishop of St. Louis, who once said supporters of abortion rights shouldn't receive communion, became the highest-ranking American …

Father and son turned away from “Muslim-free” Hot Springs gun range for being brown  —  When we reported last fall on a Hot Springs firing range that was declared a “Muslim free zone” by its owner, several blog commenters asked, “how will she know who's a Muslim?”