Kagan Was ‘Not Sympathetic’ as Law Clerk to Gun-Rights Argument  —  Elena Kagan said as a U.S. Supreme Court law clerk in 1987 that she was “not sympathetic” toward a man who contended that his constitutional rights were violated when he was convicted for carrying an unlicensed pistol.

Anti-porn provision sinks Dem jobs bill  —  House Democrats had to scrap their only substantive bill of the week Thursday after Republicans won a procedural vote that substantively altered the legislation with an anti-porn clause.  —  Democrats had labeled their COMPETES Act …

Sources: Dems Seek To Protect Lincoln By Delaying Action On Wall Street Reform  —  One of the most far-reaching pieces of the Senate's Wall Street reform bill has powerful enemies.  The White House doesn't like it.  FDIC chief Sheila Bair doesn't like it.  Obama adviser Paul Volcker …

Arizona lawmaker laughs at McCain's border fence ad  —  Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) couldn't contain himself Thursday when he saw footage of Sen. John McCain's latest campaign ad.  —  Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) couldn't contain himself Thursday when he saw footage of Sen. John McCain's (R) latest campaign ad.

Obama: Did what moment required  —  BUFFALO — Emboldened by positive jobs numbers and an uptick in his own polls, President Barack Obama stood squarely behind his economic record Thursday and accused Republicans of doing nothing to contribute to the growth.

Three arrested in FBI sweep from Times Square probe  —  Watertown, Brookline locations connected to Faisal Shahzad  —  Three people have been taken into custody on immigration violations today after raids in Watertown, Brookline and other parts of the Northeast in connection with the attempted …

Supporter calls Obama a ‘hottie with a smokin’ little body'  —  President Obama got more than he expected when he stepped out for a bite to eat today.  —  Obama is visiting Buffalo, NY, and made a surprise visit to Duff's Wings, a local landmark a few miles outside the city.

Scott Brown satisfied with Kagan's answer on military recruiting  —  Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) met with Elena Kagan this afternoon and took the opportunity to ask about her attempt to bar military recruiters from Harvard Law School.  —  Kagan's move to bar recruiters from a campus facility …

A Hidden History of Evil  —  In the world's collective consciousness, the word “Nazi” is synonymous with evil.  It is widely understood that the Nazis' ideology—nationalism, anti-Semitism, the autarkic ethnic state, the Führer principle—led directly to the furnaces of Auschwitz.

Sestak Surges Against Toomey In November Matchup, Quinnipiac University Pennsylvania Poll Finds; Corbett Has Small Lead In Governor's Race  —  U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, who has narrowed the gap against Sen. Arlen Specter in the Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary, also is surging …

Barack Obama, Campaign Manager: How The 2008 Playbook Passed Health Care  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  Shortly before 11 a.m. on a Sunday in mid-December, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was driving through Washington D.C. when he received a nervous phone call from one of his trusted deputies, Sen. Chuck Schumer.

U.S. SENATE RACE: Tea Party power fuels Angle  —  Ex-Reno assemblywoman moves up in crowded GOP primary field  —  Fueled by a burst of support from the Tea Party, Sharron Angle has rocketed into a near dead heat with Sue Lowden in the white-hot U.S. Senate Republican primary …

Criminal charges likely from Gulf oil spill, legal experts say  —  WASHINGTON — Federal investigators are likely to file criminal charges against at least one of the companies involved in the Gulf of Mexico spill, raising the prospects of significantly higher penalties than a current $75 million cap …

I Don't Like Roger Ebert  —  I love Twitter.  I use it all the time.  When I say use, hear it the way an addict would say it.  I use Twitter.  I'm pretty good at it too.  Not in the sense of having lots of followers, or being really popular, or anyone knowing who I am.

Deep prejudice about the deep south  —  I'm tired of elitist US liberals who ridicule southerners and then profess their love for Nina Simone and crawfish etouffee  —  I am tired of apologising.  I apologised for being Muslim, post-9/11 and more recently for my Pakistani origins.

N.J. gov. sets tone for US  —  In a movie version of this important story of our time, the bold, undaunted officeholder would look much like the boyish, handsome David Cameron — Great Britain's new Conservative prime minister — who called on his countrymen Tuesday to embrace an “age of austerity.”

‘Annie’ left a homeless orphan in newspaper world  —  Through more than 85 years of hardships and challenges — spanning the Great Depression, a world war, foreign cabals, corruption at home, several kidnappings and, well, being an orphan — she somehow always found a way to triumph.

Oil spill: BP had wrong diagram to close blowout preventer  —  WASHINGTON — In the days after an oil well spun out of control in the Gulf of Mexico, BP engineers tried to activate a huge piece of underwater safety equipment but failed because the device had been so altered that diagrams BP got …