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 …

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 …

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 …

Annotating Obama's 2006 speech against boosting the debt limit  —  “I think if you look at the history, getting votes for the debt ceiling is always difficult, and budgets in this town are always difficult.”  —  “The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure.

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.

NRA spits on the graves of Newtown massacre victims with release of mobile shoot-'em-up app for iPhone, iPad  —  National Rifle Association launched free game that could allow children to play target practice and pay to unlock more powerful weapons, including an assault weapon like the one used …

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 …

Introducing Graph Search Beta  —  Facebook's mission is to make the world more open and connected.  The main way we do this is by giving people the tools to map out their relationships with the people and things they care about.  We call this map the graph.  It's big and constantly expanding with new people, content and connections.

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.

DOMA: House Republicans Poised To Spend $3 Million On Legal Defense … REACT:  —  FOLLOW:  —  House Republicans, Elections 2012, LGBT, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Video, Defense Of Marriage Act, Boehner DOMA, Boehner Defense Of Marriage Act, Doma, House Republicans DOMA …

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.

Ann Coulter: ‘If You Compare White Populations,’ U.S. Has Same Murder Rate As Belgium (VIDEO)  —  Right-wing firebrand Ann Coulter on Monday said that the United States has a demographic problem rather than a gun problem, arguing that the country has a comparable murder rate to Belgium “if you compare white populations.”

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 …

The Atlantic Is Now Publishing Bizarre, Blatant Scientology Propaganda as ‘Sponsored Content’ (UPDATE)  —  The Atlantic — the one time publisher of Mark Twain, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edith Wharton — is now publishing Scientology propaganda.  The “sponsored content”</a …

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

This Metamorphosis Will Require a Permit  —  Sandy wrecked our house, but bureaucrats are keeping it broken.  —  “What sort of people were these?  What were they talking about?  What office did they belong to?  K. was living in a free country, after all, everywhere was at peace …

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 …