CBS reporter's Cairo nightmare  —  “60 Minutes” correspondent Lara Logan was repeatedly sexually assaulted by thugs yelling, “Jew!  Jew!” as she covered the chaotic fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo's main square Friday, CBS and sources said yesterday.

House Votes to Cancel F-35 Jet Engine Program  —  WASHINGTON — In a sign that some freshman Republicans were willing to cut military spending, the House voted 233-198 on Wednesday to cancel an alternate fighter jet engine that the Bush and Obama administrations had tried to kill for the last five years.

Santorum Talks About Longtime Google Problem  —  Rick Santorum has a Google problem.  —  The former Pennsylvania Senator might be well-known on Capitol Hill, but his name more regularly produces blank stares in places like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, if recent polling is any guide.

Chris Christie lays out a national vision  —  Gov. Chris Christie today delivered a broadside against the broken politics of Washington and the need for straight talk to solve the country's problems in a speech that will stoke talk of a 2012 presidential bid by the New Jersey Republican.

Florida Governor Rick Scott Rejects Federal High Speed Rail  —  Feb 16th 2011; Tallahassee, Fla. - After thoughtful consideration, Governor Rick Scott informed U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood of the state's decision to reject President Obama's Tampa to Orlando high-speed rail project.

From Prison, Madoff Says Banks ‘Had to Know’ of Fraud  —  BUTNER, N.C. — Bernard L. Madoff said he never thought the collapse of his Ponzi scheme would cause the sort of destruction that has befallen his family.  —  In his first interview for publication since his arrest in December 2008 …

Justin Bieber Talks Sex, Politics, Music and Puberty In New ‘Rolling Stone’ Cover Story  —  'I don't think you should have sex with anyone unless you love them,' Bieber tells Vanessa Grigoriadis  —  In the new issue of Rolling Stone - on stands and online in the digital archives on February 18th …

The Two Faces Of National Review  —  Once again, Adam Serwer is calling out Rich Lowry for criticizing Glenn Beck's loony ideas even as he publishes similar stuff: … That goes a bit too far, but it's true that Lowry has published lots of indefensible work by Andy McCarthy.

PBS stars fight for funding  —  Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) rarely holds press conferences with animated aardvarks, but he went for it on Wednesday, coaxing the shy Arthur the Aardvark up to the podium.  —  “Come over here Arthur,” Markey beckoned to the human-sized title character in the PBS series …

Gabrielle Giffords Knows Little About Shooting  —  Congresswoman's Chief of Staff: Word of Deaths, Others' Injuries Will Be Unknown to Her Until She Can Communicate Better  —  (CBS) It's been nearly six weeks since Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was seriously injured in a shooting rampage in Tucson …

New press secretary makes debut at White House  —  New White House press secretary Jay Carney stuck to most of the same tricks as his predecessor in his inaugural briefing.  —  Like the departed Robert Gibbs, Carney stuck to calling on the same reporters in the same order …

Fed Forecasts Faster Growth as Economy Gathers Steam  —  WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve revealed Wednesday that its policy makers had substantially upgraded their forecasts for how much the United States economy will grow this year, even though they expect that unemployment will remain painfully high for some time.

You Don't Need A Balanced Budget To Shrink The Debt Level  —  One of the ironies of Washington is that the people who spend the most time talking about the budget deficit often have very little practical understanding of it.  One example comes from my friend Dave Weigel's interview …

White House aides Bill Burton and Sean Sweeney to form consulting firm  —  White House spokesman Bill Burton and Sean Sweeney, a former aide to then-White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, will leave the administration this Friday to form their own political consulting firm, sources told POLITICO.

Major Hasan, ‘Star Officer’  —  Every branch of the military issued a final report on the Fort Hood massacre.  Not a single one mentioned radical Islam.  —  In a month of momentous change, it was easy to overlook the significance of another revolutionary event.

Alvin Greene soundly defeated in bid for state legislature seat  —  Washington (CNN) - Surprise candidate Alvin Greene was soundly defeated in his second bid for elective office on Tuesday.  He captured only 37 votes or just about .01% of the 3,892 cast in a Democratic primary to fill …

Bachmann targets Michelle Obama  —  Washington (CNN) - Rep. Michele Bachmann, a potential Republican presidential candidate, is taking issue with Michelle Obama over the first lady's recent promotion of breast-feeding.  —  Speaking to conservative talk radio host Laura Ingraham Tuesday …

Horowitz vs. Khan  —  Posted by Robert Spencer on Feb 16th, 2011 and filed under Daily Mailer, FrontPage.  You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.  You can skip to the end and leave a response.  Pinging is currently not allowed.  —  Robert Spencer is a scholar …

Top intel official revises remark on Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood  —  The top U.S. intelligence official on Wednesday revised remarks he recently made on Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, saying the group is “obviously not secular.”  —  Director of National Intelligence James Clapper had told House lawmakers …

Obama vulnerable...  Despite his recent popularity spike there should be no mistaking it- Barack Obama is vulnerable for reelection.  The problem for the GOP is that he's a lot more vulnerable against generic Republicans than the actual Republicans looking at the race.

Sen. Brown says he was sex-abuse victim  —  Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) will reveal that he was a victim of sexual abuse as a child during an interview set to air on Sunday.  —  Brown, in an interview previewing his forthcoming book, told “60 Minutes” that he suffered sexual abuse “several times” …

Egypt Leaders Found ‘Off’ Switch for Internet  —  Epitaphs for the Mubarak government all note that the mobilizing power of the Internet was one of the Egyptian opposition's most potent weapons.  But quickly lost in the swirl of revolution was the government's ferocious counterattack …

Davie paying officer to not work — for 7 years  —  Kevin Kilpatrick was put on paid leave after rift with department's top brass, his attorney says  —  The Davie Police Department hasn't let Officer Kevin Kilpatrick report to duty for seven years — but still pays him $80,275 annually.