Alabama's Clinic Escorts Protect Women From Anti-Abortion Protesters Singing ‘Happy Birthday Dead Baby’  —  As the 40th anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision approaches, anti-abortion fervor is reaching a fever pitch in some conservative areas.  At Alabama's Women Center …

Obama pushes gun control in address  —  President Obama on Saturday called on Congress to act on his gun-control proposals.  —  In his weekly address, the president said his administration has taken several steps this week to reduce gun violence.  But lawmakers on Capitol Hill need …

A minority posture for House GOP  —  WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - House Republicans appeared to be coming to grips with a stark realization as they returned to Washington from a three-day retreat here — they have a majority in name only.  —  The party begins the 113th Congress with reduced numbers …

Well-Trod Path: Political Donor to Ambassador  —  When President Obama hosted dozens of his top donors at the White House in late November for a celebratory post-election dinner of chicken and pumpkin pie, few in the room could claim to have done more to elect him than Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue magazine.

GOP takes off the suicide bomb vest  —  Big news.  Eric Cantor has just made it official: The GOP leadership is prepared to agree to a three month debt ceiling hike.  This is a major de-escalation of the crazy and effectively means Republicans have all but taken the threat of default off the table completely.

Campaign Finance Reform Advocate Defeats Right Wing Millionaire In NY Senate Race … Progressive Democrat Cecilia Tkaczyk has been elected to the New York State Senate over former Assemblyman George Amedore (R), after a successful court challenge led to the counting of 99 previously uncounted ballots from the November elections.

Not With A Bang But With A Whimper  —  When you're wrong, you're wrong.  I thought that by ruling out any way to bypass the debt limit, the White House was setting itself up, at least potentially, for an ignominious cave-in.  But it appears that the strategy has worked, and it's the Republicans giving up.

Lance Armstrong May Have Lied to Winfrey: Investigators  —  Lance Armstrong may have lied to Oprah Winfrey during his so-called confession Thursday night about his doping during the Tour de France bicycle race, investigators told ABC News today.  —  Armstrong, 41, admitted …

Money in Bad Faith  —  The depredations of the Fed.  —  The Federal Reserve is not your friend.  Whether you reside on Wall Street or Main Street, whether you are a borrower or a saver, whether you lean toward the Tea Party or the Occupy Wall Street movement—or whether you simply believe …

Obama's No. 1 Second-Term Goal—Win Back The House  —  President Obama takes the oath of office on Jan. 20, 2009, as his wife Michelle, holds the Lincoln Bible and daughters Sasha and Malia watch at the... View Enlarged Image  —  On the night President Obama won re-election …

Not how the news was supposed to go for Carmen Ortiz  —  Yesterday and today were supposed to be spectacular news days for US Attorney Carmen Ortiz: yesterday morning, hundreds of state and federal police successfully executed a massive raid on violent gangs in Boston, arresting 27 …

ALGERIAN ASSAULT ENDS CRISIS, 19 HOSTAGES DEAD  —  AIN AMENAS, Algeria (AP) — Algerian special forces stormed a natural gas complex in the middle of the Sahara desert on Saturday in a “final assault” that ended a four-day-old hostage crisis, according to the state news agency and two foreign governments.

Algerian stance spoils U.S. strategy for region  —  LONDON — The hostage crisis in Algeria has upended the Obama administration's strategy for coordinating an international military campaign against al-Qaeda fighters in North Africa, leaving U.S., European and African leaders even more at odds over how to tackle the problem.

The real surprise in the Fed's 2007 transcripts: How much they knew, how little they understood  —  In making sense of the newly released transcripts from the Federal Reserve's 2007 policy meetings, let's get one thing out of the way first.  Prediction is hard, as Yogi Berra said, especially when it's about the future.

Law School Enrollments are Plummeting.  What Happens Next?  —  A whole lot of changes ahead  —  “I couldn't do this if I didn't have tenure.”  —  That's what law professor Paul Campos told me, sitting at a table in Brasserie Beck after a Cato panel on law schools.

A Bit of Sarbanes-Oxley for Universities, Please  —  The impulse to impose Sarbanes-Oxley on universities is tempting.  Indeed, formal legal mandates on conflicts of interest and the other attributes of good governance might be even more appropriate for universities than for public corporations …

Former Dem Senator Praises Hagel Pick on Iranian State TV  —  Iran's English language propaganda arm said last week that the choice of Chuck Hagel for secretary of Defense indicates that the United States would allow Iran to get a nuclear bomb rather than confront the Islamic Republic.