What does Ron Paul want?  —  Ron Paul is on track to end the GOP presidential race in second place.  But his refusal to directly take on the man who's ahed of him — Mitt Romney — has Republicans wondering: What does Ron Paul want?  —  Paul has already ruled out a return to the House …

Untruths, Wholly Untrue, And Nothing But Untruths  —  I was deeply radicalized by the 2000 election.  At first I couldn't believe that then-candidate George W. Bush was saying so many clearly, provably false things; then I couldn't believe that nobody in the news media was willing to point out the lies.

Under voter pressure, members of Congress backpedal (hard) on SOPA  —  The public outcry over the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act seems to have gotten so loud that even members of Congress can hear it.  On Thursday we covered the news that Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) was expressing second thoughts about SOPA's DNS provisions.

GOP Rep. Berates Student Concerned About Pell Grant Cuts, Tells Her To Join The Military  —  To avoid a government shutdown at the end of 2011, Republicans succeeded in their campaign to cut the federal Pell Grant program by effectively kicking up to 100,000 low-income students off the rolls.

The New Gmail Sucks  —  Doesn't it though?  It looks horrible.  The interface is badly designed.  Keyboard short cuts do unexpected things like e.g. make your email disappear irrevocably.  And while you can temporarily revert back to the old look, they make it clear that they are going to impose …

TV chef famous for Southern-fried decadence to reveal she has diabetes  —  Paula Deen's “brunch burger” uses a donut instead of a bun.  —  Deen, with Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show,” could make millions endorsing a Novartis diabetes drug, sources say.  —  Paula Deen — the queen of high-calorie …

U.S. judge rules against presidential primary ballot challenge  —  A federal judge in Richmond on Friday turned down a bid by four Republican presidential candidates to get on Virginia's March 6 primary ballot, ruling that while he agreed with them on a key issue, they waited too late to sue.

False Flag  —  A series of CIA memos describes how Israeli Mossad agents posed as American spies to recruit members of the terrorist organization Jundallah to fight their covert war against Iran.  —  Buried deep in the archives of America's intelligence services are a series of memos …

S&P Cuts Credit Ratings for Nine Euro Zone Nations  —  Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit ratings of nine euro zone countries, stripping France and Austria of their coveted triple-A status but not EU paymaster Germany, in a Black Friday 13th for the troubled single currency area.

Allen West on the Marines Incident: ‘Shut Your Mouth, War Is Hell’  —  Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), a former Army lieutenant colonel, sends THE WEEKLY STANDARD an email commenting on the Marines' video, and has given us permission to publish it.  —  “I have sat back and assessed the incident …

France credit rating cut puts eurozone bail-out fund at risk  —  The €440bn (£365bn) eurozone bail-out fund faced fresh threats last night after France, its second-largest contributor, was stripped of its AAA credit rating for the first time.  —  The French downgrade casts …