Elder Bush Says His Son Was Served Badly by Aides  —  WASHINGTON — After years of holding back, former President George Bush has finally broken his public silence about some of the key figures in his son's administration, issuing scathing critiques of Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

Ben Carson: Egyptian Pyramids Built For Grain Storage, Not By Aliens Or As Tombs  —  “...you know, it doesn't require an alien being when God is with you.”  —  View Video ›  —  Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson told graduates during a commencement address in the late '90s …

Fox News Poll: GOP nomination race coming into focus, Trump holds edge  —  Is the race for the Republican nomination finally shaking out?  Four candidates get double-digit backing — and then there's a steep drop-off to the rest of the field.  —  The latest Fox News national poll …

Latino group offers $5K for calling Trump a racist on ‘SNL’  —  A Hispanic advocacy group is offering $5,000 to any audience member who calls GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump a “racist” on-air when he hosts the upcoming episode of “Saturday Night Live.”

U.S. intelligence: Bomb likely brought down plane  —  The latest U.S. intelligence suggests that the crash of Metrojet Flight 9268 was most likely caused by a bomb on the plane planted by ISIS or an ISIS affiliate, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.

U.S. Detects Flurry of Iranian Hacking  —  American officials say they believe cyberattacks tied to arrest in Tehran of Iranian-American businessman  —  Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard military force hacked email and social-media accounts of Obama administration officials in recent weeks …

Tonight, going through all of your questions, I wanted to touch on a few issues that seem to be asked by many people.  —  I would like to deal with one question tonight in some detail.  The issue is experience.  Several people ask what they should tell their friends when people say “I like Carson but he has no political experience”.

Bernie Sanders Takes Gloves Off Against Hillary Clinton in Interview  —  Democratic presidential candidate draws sharper distinctions with front-runner, casting her policy reversals as a character issue  —  Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is drawing sharper distinctions …

Right-wing media aims at Rubio  —  Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has a conservative media problem.  —  Rubio's past support for immigration reform infuriated some of the big-name conservative media personalities who backed his upstart Tea Party bid in 2010, and they're taking retribution now that he's rising in the presidential polls.

In Houston, Hate Trumped Fairness  —  Sometime in the near future, a transgender teenager in Texas will attempt suicide — and maybe succeed — because vilifying people for their gender identity remains politically acceptable in America.  —  The hateful rhetoric of leaders like Gov. Greg Abbott …

Reid suggests Dems will block defense spending bill  —  Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) warned on Wednesday that Democrats will block a defense spending bill this week for a third time.  —  Reid said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was “wasting the Senate's time” …

Text of mega trade deal finally released  —  The Obama administration released the long-awaited text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement on Thursday, setting the stage for a divisive fight in Congress next year that will once again pit Barack Obama against most of his fellow Democrats.

The Daily 202: From coast to coast, conservatives score huge victories in off-year elections  —  THE BIG IDEA: Just like the midterms one year ago, it was another awful night for Democrats.  — Republican Matt Bevin won a big upset in the Kentucky governor's race.

How Richard Nixon Created Hillary Clinton  —  Hillary Clinton's Benghazi testimony, in all its layered meaning, overpowers cogent analysis and even neutral description.  It was unsettling, strange, riveting—and without any true precedent: A front-runner for her party's presidential nomination …