Every election cycle can be considered, first and foremost, a monument to hype. With every passing week, the political world is a blizzard of brash predictions, bold pronouncements, and bad advice. This year, your Speculatroners shall attempt to decode and defang this world with a regular dispatch that we're calling "This Week In Coulda Shoulda Maybe.

On February 22nd, the Somali based al-Shabaab jihadist group issued a six minute video where it called on Muslim men to attack shopping malls in western countries. Three locations in particular were singled out in the video: Mall of America in Bloomington Minnesota, West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton Alberta and the Oxford Street shopping district in London.

The progressive community lost one of its toughest and smartest fighters yesterday. Larry died in a car crash on a trip to Florida, and all of us who had the honor of being his friend will miss him greatly.

On the evening of Aug. 9, 2011, one month before the 40th anniversary of the bloody Attica prison riot, a guard in that remote facility in western New York was distributing mail to inmates in C Block, one of the vast tiers of cells nestled behind its towering 30-foot walls.

On the heels of recreational marijuana use becoming legal in Washington, D.C., a poll reveals that a majority of Republican millennials favor legalizing marijuana.

The poll, conducted by Pew Research Center, found that 63 percent of Republican millennials -- defined as those born between 1981 and 1996 -- feel that the use of marijuana should be legal.

BEN-GURION AIRPORT, Israel (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu headed to Washington on Sunday to press his case against an emerging deal on Iran's nuclear program in a contentious address to the U.S.

(Refiled for wider distribution)
CARACAS, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Saturday his government had captured American citizens involved in "espionage activities," and said U.S.

While orbiting around Earth on the International Space Station, American astronaut Terry Virts took a minute to pay fitting tribute to Leonard Nimoy, who died on Friday at 83. The late actor's home state of Massachusetts can be seen just to the right of Virts' Vulcan salute.

(Adds quotes from protest)
By Brendan O'Brien
MADISON, Wis.

By Andy Sullivan
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md., Feb 28 (Reuters) - If this week was any indication, Republicans could spend much of the 2016 presidential election attacking Democrats as weak on national security, rather than focusing on the economic concerns that have preoccupied voters in recent years.

MOSCOW (AP) — Thousands were converging Sunday in central Moscow to mourn veteran liberal politician Boris Nemtsov, whose killing on the streets of the capital has shaken Russia's beleaguered opposition.

President Vladimir Putin has marginalized and intimidated his political opponents, jailing some and driving others into exile.

NATIONAL HARBOR, MARYLAND -- Typically, when a politician meets a reporter for an interview, decorum dictates that said politician offer up a bland pleasantry to break the ice. "Thanks for spending time with us!" or "Try to keep up!" are standard.

WASHINGTON (AP) — For six years, President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been on a collision course over how to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions, a high-stakes endeavor both men see as a centerpiece of their legacies.

Immigration officials are moving to deport at least 150 Bosnians living in the United States who they believe took part in war crimes and “ethnic cleansing” during the bitter conflict that raged in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock repaid $40,000 from his personal checking account for redecorations to his congressional office in the style of the TV show "Downton Abbey," according to financial records reviewed by The Associated Press.