Game of Chicken: An empty chair, a ceramic chicken, and threats from the House. Another day in Congress.   Attorney Gen. William Barr refused to show for a hearing yesterday before the House Judiciary Committee about the Special Counsel report because he …

The Firing Line: The front page of today’s Boston Globe features a life-size picture of an assault rifle with the headline, “Make It Stop.” It won’t happen soon. The Senate yesterday was unable to move forward on what might seem …

Poll-itics: In a flip-flop from the national trend, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz leads Donald Trump 24 percent to 19 percent in the Iowa Republican polls. Marco Rubio is running third at 17 percent. Chris Cillizza writes in The Washington Post …

World at War: New York City is on alert today after the Islamic State released a video threatening Times Square. The video shows a man making a body bomb followed by pictures of Manhattan. Authorities say they know of no …

Arrest: Police in Arizona have arrested a 21-year-old man suspected of being the sniper who has hit 11 cars with bullets in recent weeks, mostly along the I-10 freeway in Phoenix. Leslie Allen Merritt, Jr, who works as a landscaper, …

Poll-itics: Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson has pulled to within a horse length of Donald Trump in the latest New York Times/CBS News poll of Republican voters. The Poll puts Carson at 23 percent to Trump’s 27, a 17-point gain for …

Easing Off: The Federal Reserve today is expected to announce the end of “quantitative easing,” the purchasing of bonds that stimulated the economy all through the Great Recession. The Fed has bought $3.5 trillion worth of securities in the last …

Mystery Jet: Two objects spotted by satellite in the Indian Ocean 1,500 miles Southwest of Perth might be pieces of the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, according to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. He said several aircraft were sent to …

Money, Money: The economy grew by 3.2% in the fourth quarter of 2013, an indication the economic recovery has legs. Stocks are up this morning. But yesterday the Federal Reserve announced another $10 billion cut in its monthly stimulus bond …

The Taper Arrives: Stocks jumped yesterday when the Federal Reserve announced it will scale back its economic stimulus by $10 billion a month starting in January. That drops the stimulus to $75 billion a month. This is the much discussed …