Obama Poised to Back Comprehensive Plan to Curb Gun Violence  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama this week will embrace a comprehensive plan to reduce gun violence that will call for major legislation to expand background checks for gun purchases and lay out 19 separate actions the president …

Schumer to back Hagel as defense secretary  —  Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced his support Tuesday for the nomination of former senator Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense, delivering a key vote for the Nebraska Republican's confirmation after weeks of voicing doubt about his positions …

Utah Smoothie Shop Charges Liberals More, Donates Surcharge To Conservative Causes  —  A smoothie shop in Vernal, Utah is sparking outrage over an unorthodox pricing structure that charges liberals an extra dollar.  The shop, tellingly named the I Love Drilling Juice and Smoothie Bar …

President Congeniality talks tough  —  “I'm a pretty friendly guy,” President Obama said near the end of his White House news conference Monday afternoon.  —  The claim might have been a touch more plausible if he hadn't spent the bulk of the previous hour demonstrating just how adversarial he could be.

Harry Reid: The Assault Weapons Ban Is Probably Doomed  —  The Democratically-controlled U.S. Senate will not be a free-for-all of new gun regulations following the shooting at Sandy Hook, according to Majority Leader Harry Reid.  Instead, Senators will focus on passing legislation …

Averting Default, Achieving Restraint  —  The federal government will hit the statutory limit on its debt within the next two months, and further borrowing would require congressional action.  Almost everybody recognizes that such action will need to take place, since no one has proposed a way to end all deficit spending immediately.

Armstrong Admits Doping, and Says He Will Testify Against Cycling Officials  —  In an interview with Oprah Winfrey that is scheduled to air on her network on Thursday, Lance Armstrong confessed that he used performance-enhancing drugs during his cycling career, according to two people briefed …

House panel blocks most GOP attempts to trim Sandy disaster-relief bill  —  The Republican-led House Rules Committee late Monday approved a rule for a massive Hurricane Sandy relief package that shuts out most GOP proposals to pare back the size of the bill.

On humanity, a big failure in Aaron Swartz case  —  If it was beyond scandalous that Aaron Swartz was facing 35 years in prison and millions of dollars in fines for downloading a bunch of obscure academic treatises without a subscription, it is beyond tragic that he is now dead.

More city co-eds turning to sugar daddies for school support  —  More New York City co-eds are turning to a new source of income — sugar daddies — to cope with the rising cost of their college tuition, surprising statistics released yesterday reveal.  —  And the majority is enrolled …

After 2010 campaign, Gov. Rick Scott gave back dog Reagan  —  What happened to Reagan, the Scotts' rescued Labrador?  —  TALLAHASSEE — Shortly after winning the GOP nomination in 2010, Rick Scott announced to the world through Facebook that his family had rescued a Labrador Retriever.

Jon Huntsman Can't Stop Talking About The Republican Party  —  The Republican gadfly and No Labels crusader says he's only trying to help.  “I'd say we take about 2 percent of the media requests that come in.  Really.”  —  Jon Huntsman speaks to BuzzFeed staff Monday.  —  Image by Macey Foronda for BuzzFeed

The Age of Administrative Excess  —  by Richard A. Epstein (Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow and member of the Property Rights, Freedom, and Prosperity Task Force)  —  Why is the federal government locking unwilling citizens into Medicare?  —  Earlier this month …