NRA President: Americans Are Buying Firearms Because They Fear Obama  —  Gun sales skyrocketed at the end of 2012 after the tragic shootings in Newtown, Connecticut.  The FBI conductedmore than 2 million criminal background checks ahead of gun purchases in December, according …

Powell: GOP has ‘a dark vein of intolerance’  —  While continuing to identify as a Republican, former Secretary of State Colin Powell on Sunday criticized the GOP for a series of racist attacks against President Barack Obama.  —  “There's also a dark vein of intolerance in some parts of the party …

By George  —  End This Depression Now!  —  How bad have things gotten?  How did we get stuck in what now can only be called a depression?  And, most of all, how do we free ourselves?  A call-to-arms from Paul Krugman.  — Buy the book »  —  Some links to stuff I've written bearing on macroeconomic policy.

MIT president orders review of Aaron Swartz episode  —  The president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced Sunday that he has ordered a top-to-bottom review of the university's actions in a computer hacking case that led to the federal prosecution of renowed programmer …

Journal News gun permit map used by burglars to target White Plains home?  —  A White Plains residence pinpointed on a controversial handgun permit database was burglarized Saturday, and the burglars' target was the homeowner's gun safe.  —  At least two burglars broke into a home on Davis Avenue …

Sen. Corker Says There Are Questions About Chuck Hagel's ‘Temperament’  —  ABC  —  This morning on “This Week,” Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee expressed concerns about the “temperament” of Chuck Hagel, the man President Obama nominated to be his next Secretary of Defense.

Candy Crowley On Lack Of Diversity In Obama White House: ‘Does It Matter?’  —  It really has been amazing to watch Obama's media cover for the lack of diversity in his cabinet picks.  —  A fine example of this hypocrisy came on CNN's State of the Union Sunday when host Candy Crowley actually began …

Gun debate opponents gear up for fight; Sens. Blumenthal, Ayotte on president's picks for his new national security team  —  Special Guests: Neera Tanden, Larry Pratt, Sen. Kelly Ayotte, Sen. Richard Blumenthal  —  The following is a rush transcript of the January 13, 2013, edition of “Fox News Sunday With Chris Wallace.”

Mass Paris rally against gay marriage in France  —  The BBC's Hugh Schofield said the organisers did not want to be seen as homophobic  —  Tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Paris over plans to give gay couples in France the right to marry and adopt children.

History suggests that era of entitlements is nearly over … It's often good fun and sometimes revealing to divide American history into distinct periods of uniform length.  In working on my forthcoming book on American migrations, internal and immigrant, it occurred to me that you could do this using …

The Low Politics of Low Growth  —  WE typically blame Washington for not doing more to help the economy grow.  But what if we have it backward: What if it is the weak economy that is driving the failures in Washington?  —  That is what Benjamin Friedman, a Harvard economist who has studied …

Conservatives Declare War On New Miss America Mallory Hagan Over Gun Comments  —  Still reeling from losing the election and being ostracized from the majority of public opinion, conservatives are striking out at the newly crowned Miss America.  —  On Saturday's pageant broadcast, Mallory Hagan …