Rahm Emanuel booted off ballot in 2-1 Appellate Court decision  —  Rahm Emanuel was thrown off the ballot for mayor of Chicago today by an appellate court panel, a stunning blow to the fund-raising leader in the race.  —  An appellate panel ruled 2-1 that Emanuel did not meet the residency standard to run for mayor.

Obama won't endorse raising retirement age or reducing Social Security benefits  —  President Obama has decided not to endorse his deficit commission's recommendation to raise the retirement age, and otherwise reduce Social Security benefits, in Tuesday's State of the Union address …

White House Says Chinese Folk Song Played During State Dinner Was Not An Insult; Experts Divided  —  Ivories that were tickled last Wednesday night at the White House are, to some conservative media, no laughing matter.  —  At the White House State Dinner for Chinese President Hu Jintao …

Report: George W. Bush aides violated Hatch Act  —  During the 2006 midterm elections, White House political aides to President George W. Bush engaged in widespread violations of a federal law which limits partisan political activity by government employees, a long-running federal investigation has found.

Justice Clarence Thomas Amends 20 Years of Disclosure Forms With Wife's Employers  —  Virginia Thomas' Place of Employment Had Been Omitted From Justice's Reports  —  Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas amended 20 years worth of financial disclosure forms today after a liberal watchdog group questioned …

The War on Demand  —  Something really strange has happened to the debate over economic policy in the face of the Great Recession and its aftermath — or maybe the real point is that events have revealed the true nature of the debate, stripping away some of the illusions.

AZ lawmaker: Roe v. Wade a factor in shootings  —  The aftermath of the Arizona shootings have featured disputes over the role that gun laws or political rhetoric could have played in the violence.  —  But an Arizona lawmaker offered another source of blame: Roe v. Wade.

Is it OK to abort a viable fetus?  An answer to pro-choicers on Kermit Gosnell.  —  Kermit Gosnell, a Philadelphia abortionist, has been charged with butchering viable babies, causing a woman's death, and endangering other patients.  A grand jury report details his alleged crimes.

Scalia: No plans to attend Obama's State of the Union address  —  Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told The Hill on Monday evening that he does not plan on attending the State of the Union address on Tuesday.  —  The conservative-leaning jurist said that he hasn't “gone to the State …

Domodedovo blast: Explosion rocks Moscow's main airport  —  Moscow's Domodedovo airport - the busiest in the Russian capital - has been rocked by an explosion that has reportedly killed 31 people.  —  More than 100 more are thought to have been injured in the blast, which reports suggest may have been the work of a suicide bomber.

Please Don't Be Offended  —  I might be the last person to notice this, but I still sort of wonder what it says about us.  I was over at Dave Weigel's place a few minutes ago, and he linked to a Twitter post by Jim Geraghty, who I don't happen to follow.  When I clicked the link, it included the following message:

National Archives Discovers Date Change on Lincoln Record  —  Thomas Lowry Confesses to Altering Lincoln Pardon to April 14, 1865  —  Washington, DC...Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero announced today that Thomas Lowry, a long-time Lincoln researcher from Woodbridge, VA …

The people who will really decide whether health-care reform succeeds or fails  —  The New Yorker isn't allowing Atul Gawande's latest article out from behind the paywall, but you can read the abstract here.  The basic point is well worth keeping in mind amid all the arguments over the Affordable Care Act …

President, Rebounding, Gives Opponents Pause  —  Suddenly, Republicans face an unanticipated problem: less than three months after their midterm triumphs, President Obama has regained political momentum.  —  As Mr. Obama approaches the State of the Union address on Tuesday …

Bachmann: America Was Founded On Diversity (VIDEO)  —  Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) had an interesting take this weekend on America's first European settlers, who she said “had different cultures, different backgrounds, different traditions.”  —  “How unique in all of the world …

19 days in, GOP leadership takes credit for job growth  —  It took less than three weeks for the new Republican Congressional leadership to claim credit for an apparent economic upturn.  —  An aide to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Brian Patrick, emailed reporters this morning:

Reagan saw that ‘we are all patriots’  —  Ronald Wilson Reagan was a believer.  As a husband, a father, an entertainer, a governor and a president, he recognized that each of us has the power — as individuals and as a nation — to shape our own destiny.  He had faith in the American promise …

Mike Bloomberg Will Save Us from Ourselves If Only We Let Him  —  He's liberal.  He's conservative.  He's idealistic.  He's pragmatic.  He's egalitarian.  He's the elite of the elite.  He's not running for president.  But he just might consider a hostile takeover.  —  By John H. Richardson

NBC: U.S. can't link accused Army private to Assange  —  Military also denies allegations that Bradley Manning is being mistreated  —  Below:  —  U.S. military officials tell NBC News that investigators have been unable to make any direct connection between a jailed army private suspected …

Mortgage Giants Leave Legal Bills to the Taxpayers  —  Since the government took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, taxpayers have spent more than $160 million defending the mortgage finance companies and their former top executives in civil lawsuits accusing them of fraud.

Where Did the Stimulus Go?  —  During the recent recession, the U.S. Congress passed two large economic stimulus programs.  President Bush's February 2008 program totaled $152 billion.  President Obama's bill, enacted a year later, was considerably larger at $862 billion.  Neither worked.