Donald Trump: How did Barack Obama get into Ivies?  —  ‘How does a bad student go to Columbia and then to Harvard?’  Trump asked.  AP Photo  —  Donald Trump is upping the ante against President Barack Obama's legitimacy, raising questions on Monday night about how the president was admitted to two Ivy League schools.

Law Firm Won't Defend Marriage Act  —  WASHINGTON — The law firm hired by Republicans in the House of Representatives to defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act withdrew Monday amid pressure from gay-rights groups.  The decision prompted the resignation of a prominent partner …

Financiers Switch to GOP  —  Hedge-Fund Titans Who Backed Democrats Open Their Wallets for Republicans  —  Hedge-fund managers made a big bet on Barack Obama and other Democrats in 2008.  Now, with the 2012 contest gearing up, some prominent fund managers have turned their backs on the party and are actively supporting Republicans.

Paul Krugman: For entitlement reform before he was against it  —  Not that you needed any more evidence that New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is a flip-flopping charlatan, but here's the latest.  —  Today, he assails GOP proposals to raise the Medicare age and, by extension, the Social Security retirement age.

Don't laugh at Paul  —  Ron Paul's not as big of a joke as people think.  —  Do I think he has a serious chance at the Republican nomination?  Not really.  But I think he could play a much bigger role in the race than people might expect.  Consider some of these recent poll numbers:

Obama revealed: A moderate Republican  —  America is mired in three wars.  The past decade was the hottest on record.  Unemployment remains stuck near 9 percent, and there's a small, albeit real, possibility that the U.S. government will default on its debt.  So what's dominating the news?

Pork Parade Rep. Rogers' Neighborhood  —  Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY), the Prince of Pork, has publicly sworn off earmarking, even if it hurts his district.  Nevertheless, CREW has found other ways Rep. Rogers has steered millions of federal dollars to a complicated web of pet recipients.

High gas prices cut into driving habits — and Obama's approval rating  —  Soaring gasoline prices are biting into household incomes and nibbling at Americans' fuel consumption — and support for President Obama, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

RNC chairman says he doesn't worry about ‘birthers’ in GOP  —  Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus said that concerns within his party about President Obama's birthplace don't concern him, because he has more important things to worry about.

More Than 1 Billion People Are Hungry in the World  —  But what if the experts are wrong?  —  For many in the West, poverty is almost synonymous with hunger.  Indeed, the announcement by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in 2009 that more than 1 billion people are suffering …

Public Pensions, Once Off Limits, Face Budget Cuts  —  When an arbitrator ruled this month that Detroit could reduce the pensions being earned by its police sergeants and lieutenants, it put the struggling city at the forefront of a growing national debate over whether the pensions of current public workers can or should be reduced.

Reducing Health Costs With Voluntary Death Panels  —  Andrew Sullivan notes that if people were a little more responsible about planning for our own demise that this could reduce health care spending: … Of course put in terms of “everyone” it's creepy and totalitarian.

College Teams, Relying on Deception, Undermine Gender Equity  —  Ever since Congress passed the federal gender-equity law known as Title IX, universities have opened their gyms and athletic fields to millions of women who previously did not have chances to play.

Allen West: Liberal Women Are ‘Neutering American Men’  —  Last week, Tea Party favorite Rep. Allen West (R-FL) addressed his base at a Women Impacting Nation (WIN) meeting in Boca Raton, FL.  WIN's mission is to “educate and equip women with knowledge of God's truth” and …

The end of the line: Last typewriter factory left in the world closes its doors  —  It's an invention that revolutionised the way we work, becoming an essential piece of office equipment for the best part of a century.  —  But after years of sterling service, that bane for secretaries has reached the end of the line.

Another life line for Death Row cop-killer Mumia abu Jamal  —  1980s Death Row cop-killer Mumia abu Jamal, darling of the progressive Left, will get yet another day in court: … Yes, they called him a “death row activist.”  —  Only marginally less obnoxious than when AFP called him a “human rights campaigner.”

Sen. Manchin breaks with leaders, backs strict spending caps  —  Freshman Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Tuesday announced his support for strict spending caps that put him at odds with his party's leadership and President Obama.  —  Manchin told an audience in South Charleston …

Paul LePage Voices Support For Loosening Maine's Child Labor Laws … Paul Lepage , Child Labor , Child Labor Laws , Maine Child Labor , Maine Child Labor Laws , Maine Women's Lobby , Paul Lepage Child Labor Laws , Paul Lepage Maine , Paul Lepage Maine Governor , Politics News

Judge ends lockout; owners file appeal  —  MINNEAPOLIS — Seven weeks into the NFL lockout, players have an early triumph over the owners in court.  —  U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson ordered an immediate end to the lockout Monday, siding with the players in their bitter fight …

Florida pol follows Rubio's lead  —  He's a young, little-known former state lawmaker who is steadily piling up praise from the chattering class as the most authentic conservative candidate in the race for Florida's Senate seat.  —  Adam Hasner announced his candidacy on Mark Levin's …

U.S. Effort to Remove Drug CEO Jolts Firms  —  A government attempt to oust a longtime drug-company chief executive over his company's marketing violations is raising alarms in that industry and beyond about a potential expansion of federal involvement in the business world.

Eugene Robinson  —  The word most politicians ignore: Jobs  —  What is it about the word “jobs” that our nation's leaders fail to understand?  How has the most painful economic crisis in decades somehow escaped their notice?  Why do they ignore the issues that Americans care most desperately about?

Rachel Maddow: 'I'm definitely not an autocutie'  —  The top US news anchor on why she prefers jokes to anger and why she is proud to be gay  —  It's 10.05pm on a rainy Tuesday night in the MSNBC studio in the now famous New York address, 30 Rock, and Rachel Maddow - one of the highest profile news anchors …