This is just the blood-letting the Republican Party needs  —  It's getting hot in here.  —  Tuesday morning, the political-action committee supporting Jeb Bush released an extraordinarily nasty — and inaccurate — ad bashing Marco Rubio for missing key intelligence briefings on the Paris and San Bernardino terrorist attacks.

Man charged with setting Houston mosque fire was a devout attendee  —  A Houston man has been arrested in connection with a suspected arson at a mosque on Christmas Day.  —  A spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confirmed that the man was arrested early Wednesday …

Arrest Warrant Issued for Bill Cosby for Alleged January 2004 Sexual Assault of Andrea Constand  —  An arrest warrant has been issued for entertainer Bill Cosby for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting former Temple employee Andrea Constand at his Elkins Park, Pennsylvania mansion in January 2004 …

Beards, Why? … Paul Ryan: House speaker, Wisconsinite, Republican standard-bearer, and now, lumber-sexual?  In an Instagram post late last month, the congressman unveiled a spray of chestnut stubble across his face.  “I'm the first Speaker to sport a beard in about 100 years,” he said.

Tx. pol posts denied marital rape, tried cheating drug test  —  A Texas lawmaker's career could be over after his posts denying marital rape surfaced on Tuesday, along with a flood of other shady writing.  —  Texas state representative Jonathan Stickland's dirty digital tracks came to light …

Cleveland's Terrible Stain  —  Tamir Rice of Cleveland would be alive today had he been a white 12-year-old playing with a toy gun in just about any middle-class neighborhood in the country on the afternoon of Nov. 22, 2014.  —  But Tamir, who was shot to death by a white police officer that day …

Militiamen, ranchers in showdown for soul of Burns  —  BURNS - The strangers carrying the whisper of danger arrived in the vast territory of the Harney Basin just before the holidays.  —  Ammon Bundy once helped his father repulse the government in an armed showdown on a Nevada desert.

Bush campaign shifts resources to early states in strategy shakeup  —  Jeb Bush's campaign is deploying nearly all of its staff in its Miami headquarters to early states, staffers were informed on a conference call Wednesday afternoon.  —  Top campaign officials informed employees …

Why I said Hillary Clinton had the ‘Worst Year in Washington’  —  I write a weekly column awarding someone — usually a political figure — the “Worst Week in Washington.”  It's just what it sounds like.  At the end of the year, I write one big piece about who had the “Worst Year in Washington.”

Racial prejudice is driving opposition to paying college athletes.  Here's the evidence.  —  With the money made from college sports increasing every year, the way colleges treat their athletes has become controversial.  —  That's because college sports is a tremendously lucrative business for everyone but the athletes.

Report: Obama's NSA spied on Israel, Congress, and Jewish Organizations  —  President Obama announced two years ago that he would stop eavesdropping on leaders of U.S. allies, after the world learned the reach of long-secret U.S. surveillance programs.  According to The Wall Street Journal …