Today, there are many millions of Americans who can tell one Kardashian sister from another, but have no idea that Barack Obama has compiled the worst presidential record since Jimmy Carter.

While no official announcements have been made, President Obama’s second term national security team appears to be taking shape.

Remember when the Bush administration was spying on calls Americans made overseas without a warrant? Those were the good old days.

Richard Lugar puts in a word for compromise and good governance on his way out of the Senate.

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates is bemused that the generals who worked for him lived more lavish lifestyles than he did.

It’s okay to criticize military veterans–even if you never served in the military.

Democrats are approaching an “Electoral College lock.” Republicans are trying to pick it.

Couples of the same sex can marry at the West Point chapel, they’re treated much differently under the Defense of Marriage Act.

How two head coaches got struggling NFL teams ready to play one day after the shocking death of a teammate.

The National Intelligence Council has released its quadrennial strategic forecast, Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds.

A new poll finds strong support for raising taxes on other people and staunch opposition to cutting programs that benefit themselves.

The title of most impressive Heisman winner of all time goes to Pete Dawkins, who won the award in 1958.

Johnny Manziel won the Heisman Trophy last night, becoming the first “freshman” to do so.

Another week, another innocent person killed by an NFL player.

Pennsylvania Republicans want to do the right thing for the wrong reason.

A outline of a deal both sides could live with.

Charlie Crist, run out of the Republican Party, is now a Democrat.

Blake Hounshell finds the footnotes in Andy Carvin’s latest book somewhat amusing:

Somebody drove a car into a McDonald’s in DC’s Adams Morgan neighborhood, prompting Ryan Lizza to quip, “This time Michelle Obama’s gone too far.”

The Air Force has a leadership crisis.

Why the bureaucratic tyrants at the FDA regulate your yuletide drinks.

Kobe Bryant is one of only five NBA players to score 30,000 points and the youngest to achieve the milestone.

My first piece for the New York Daily News, “A Drone Strike on Democracy,” has posted.

Want to teach political science for a living? Go to one of a handful of top schools or don’t bother.

Ross Douthat says American women should stop being decadent and have more babies, explaining that raising children is easier than it used to be, so there’s really no excuse for women to be so selfish.

NATO has agreed to deploy Patriot missiles along the Turkey-Syria border to protect Turkish airspace and territory, while making clear no escalation is intended.

In a show of marketing savvy that put Detroit where it is, Lincoln is rebranding itself as Lincoln.

It seems that FreedomWorks is imploding in the wake of Dick Armey’s sudden resignation.

The New York Post splashed the photo of a man pushed in front of a train on their cover.

Outgoing Senator Jim Webb is making another attempt at passing the Stolen Valor Act, deemed unconstitutional last year by the US Supreme Court.

Elections put the players in office. They don’t dictate the outcome of the game.

House Speaker John Boehner has purged the body’s key financial committees of members of his caucus that didn’t toe the line.

Actress Ashley Judd is reportedly considering a run for the United States Senate.

Dick Armey has resigned as chairman of Tea Party group FreedomWorks over unspecified principles.

Whenever a Republican mentions the ‘Bush tax cuts,’ they should also talk about going back to the ‘Clinton tax rates.’

A photograph of a New York cop putting boots on a homeless man went viral. The man remains bootless, however.

The new psychiatric diagnostic manual does away with some common ailments and adds some new ones.

In a NYT op-ed titled “The Monster of Monticello” Paul Finkelman expresses his befuddlement that people play down Thomas Jefferson’s legacy as a slave owner.

Ronald Reagan won the tax fight. The debate now centers on whether to continue cutting taxes or slightly reverse the trend.

Harvard’s pet conservative offers a critique of the Democratic Party that reads like something from the OTB comments section.

One of West Point’s first female graduates has married her long-time girlfriend at the Cadet Chapel.

In “Eyes on the Prize,” Chuck Culpepper looks at Saban’s first season as a head coach, with Toledo, way back in 1989-90. It seems that Nick Saban has been Nick Saban for a very long time.

Jovan Belcher, a linebacker with the Kansas City Chiefs, this morning murdered the mother of their 3-month-old baby before killing himself.

US military drones are crashing at civilian airports around the world.

Ron Fournier details how Bill Clinton and George W. Bush taught him how to understand his son, Tyler, who has Asperger’s syndrome.

NPR’s Julie Rovner makes a novel argument: Raising the Medicare eligibility age would actually increase the cost of Medicare.

The best single means of becoming such an economic winner is to gain admission to a top university

There aren’t enough readers who want political reporting that’s “more substantive than POLITICO and much more sophisticated than C.Q.” and willing to pay for it.

The Republican Party needs a new message on foreign policy that is true to the conservative principles of the base and yet has a broad appeal to the American public.

Prince Charles has been waiting for his mom to die for a very long time.