Within an hour last evening, I passed along and retracted two breaking news stories on Twitter.

People who ought to know better are now concocting absurd scenarios to get around a really weak Republican presidential field.

Newt Gingrich has amazingly high unfavorables.

I can’t be the only one who cringed at his applause line: “To take an ex-wife and make it two days before the primary a significant question in a presidential campaign is as close to despicable as anything I can imagine.”

The combined value of Apple’s stock is more than the GDP of some countries.

A Selection Of Speaker Gingrich’s Thoughts Over The Years

Toby Harnden tweets, “What a debacle for Iowa. Hard to see why candidates should take Iowa caucuses seriously in future.

The Republican frontrunner’s statements yesterday about his earnings and taxes went over like a platinum balloon.

150-plus evangelical leaders are trying to derail the Romney Express. They’re going to get run over.

Henry Farrell thinks “The New Gmail Sucks” and doesn’t care who knows it.

Shockingly, Paula Deen, the morbidly obese woman who fries Twinkies on television, has diabetes.

How far should the press go in challenging assertions by politicians?

Understanding the outrageous.

A Washington Post fact check calls this “true but false.”

A Mississippi judge has stayed a slew of pardons issued by Haley Barbour on his way out the door.

Michael Hastings has yet another credulous story attempting to smear the United States military.

The US intelligence community has more information at its disposal than ever. Unfortunately, it can’t efficiently process it and make the necessary connections.

There’s no perfect system for choosing a champion but we can do better than this.

Aaron Swartz has been arrested for downloading too many academic journal articles.

A record number of Americans don’t consider themselves a member of either party.

The former Utah governor will almost certainly never be the GOP nominee. But someone like him will be soon.

Looking back at the Electoral College results of the modern era–and ahead to November.

Philip Hammond addressed the Atlantic Council this morning in advance of a meeting with Leon Panetta.

President Obama’s Pentagon is planning for an unlikely war with China rather than the small wars America will inevitably fight.

Despite the opposition of the SECDEF and Joint Chiefs, the latter expanded yesterday.

Rick Santorum now appears to be THE social conservative alternative to Mitt Romney.

Obama 2012 online ad buy on the Des Moines Register’s homepage today

Bernard Finel argues that those of us arguing against war in Iran are doing it wrong. He’s right.

Vehement disagreement with the policy views of a country and prejudice based on immutable traits are not the same.

Cee Lo Green caused on New Year’s Eve by changing the lyrics of Imagine from “And no religion, too” to “And all religions true.”

Today is my eldest daughter Katie’s 3rd birthday.

Let’s ban robocalls.

Executive summary: She’s a kook unfit to serve as dog catcher, much less leader of the free world.

The Panthers rookie is having a historic season. Were doubts that he could succeed colored by race?

The constant drumbeat of not-really-news stories out of insignificant little Iowa will soon be behind us.

Why does government regulate how long some people work and not others?

The United States tops the world in giving money, volunteering time, and helping strangers.

Those of us who obsess over politics and policy on a daily basis in no way represent the typical voter.

In a blinding flash of the obvious, Gallup finds that “Christianity Remains Dominant Religion in the United States.”

Newt Gingrich joins Rick Perry in having had his application to be on the Virginia Republican primary ballot disqualified. That leaves Mitt Romney and Ron Paul as the only candidates on the ballot.

Several candidates did not submit a completed application on time to qualify for Virginia’s Republican primary ballot.

Ron Paul has a provocative new ad out asking Americans to imagine Chinese or Russian troops occupying Texas in the way American troops occupied Iraq and are occupying Afghanistan.

For years, analysts have worried that Iraq’s tenuous hold on stability would collapse upon the withdrawal of US forces. We’re now watching it happen.

A gay man claims Newt Gingrich told him to vote for Obama.

Mark Richt, head football coach of the University of Georgia Bulldogs, inadvertantly broke NCAA rules by paying coaches and other employees extra money out of his own pocket.

People who make a lot of money should whine less. But many of them are actually do create jobs.

Don’t look now but President Obama’s approval ratings are closing in on levels that point to re-election.

Newt Gingrich has fallen into a statistical tie with Mitt Romney in the latest Gallup poll, mirroring his decline in other recent surveys.

The trailer for the next Batman movie, “The Dark Knight Rises,” is out.