The GOP Tips Its Hand  —  9:45 — Sen. James Inhofe, the new ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee, has already penned a Washington Post op-ed which surprised no one by announcing that he'd vote against Hagel.  Still, his opening remarks were interesting because they outlined …

Some Unions Grow Wary of Health Law They Backed  —  Labor unions enthusiastically backed the Obama administration's health-care overhaul when it was up for debate.  Now that the law is rolling out, some are turning sour.  —  Union leaders say many of the law's requirements will drive …

Dominican prostitute: Sen. Bob Menendez ‘likes the youngest and newest girls’  —  In a little-noticed email published online Wednesday by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a young Dominican woman wrote nine months ago that she slept with 59-year-old New Jersey Democratic …

Chinese Hackers Infiltrate New York Times Computers  —  SAN FRANCISCO — For the last four months, Chinese hackers have persistently attacked The New York Times, infiltrating its computer systems and getting passwords for its reporters and other employees.  —  After surreptitiously tracking …

Worth Reading  —  Here's a really meaty and interesting essay in the new and relaunched TNR about gun ownership and what gun owners want.  What Gun Owners Really Want by Walter Kirn.  —  There's a lot there.  But one point resonated with me because it's a flip side of something I was trying …

IGNORE LENA DUNHAM'S ‘GIRLS’ AT YOUR OWN PERIL, CONSERVATIVES  —  There's plenty about Girls to annoy conservatives, yet this often creepy, usually skeevy, critically-acclaimed HBO series is also a test for conservatives.  —  Will we finally heed Andrew Breitbart's warnings about the importance …

White House to shut down jobs council  —  The Obama administration will discontinue its jobs council despite persistent unemployment and news this week that the economy shrunk.  —  The council, created in 2011, has met in full only four times in its two-year existence and was up for re-authorization this week.

At Hill hearing, Wayne LaPierre tries to manhandle facts and logic  —  Wayne LaPierre, the National Rifle Association's chief executive, arrived for his hearing on Capitol Hill in the organization's trademark fashion: violently.  —  When he and his colleagues stepped off the elevator …

Myths of Weight Loss Are Plentiful, Researcher Says  —  If schools reinstated physical education classes, a lot of fat children would lose weight.  And they might never have gotten fat in the first place if their mothers had just breast fed them when they were babies.

Why We Took Cocaine Out of Soda  —  Social injustice and “a most wonderful invigorator of sexual organs”  —  1894 ad for Vin Mariani, art by Jules Cheret  —  When cocaine and alcohol meet inside a person, they create a third unique drug called cocaethylene.  Cocaethylene works like cocaine, but with more euphoria.

What Professor Hagel Taught  —  Cyberwar and Bjorn Lomborg at Georgetown.  A former student is “disgusted” by the nomination process.  —  Before he became President Obama's Secretary of Defense nominee, Senator Chuck Hagel was a professor at Georgetown's School of Foreign Service for three years.

Syria, Iran threaten consequences for Israeli strike  —  In wake of reported IAF attack on a military research center in Syria, Syrian ambassador to Lebanon says Damascus has option to respond as Iran threatens “serious consequences” for Tel Aviv; Hezbollah, Russia condemn strike.

Homeland Security has advice for confronting mass murders: scissors  —  WASHINGTON — Is your workplace getting shot up by a crazed gunman?  —  No problem — just grab a pair of scissors and fight back!  —  That's some of the helpful advice in a new instructional video from the Department …

RUBIO'S AMNESTY A PATH TO OBLIVION FOR GOP  —  RESIZE:  —  Apart from finding out that Barack Obama did far worse in his re-election than nearly any other incumbent who won re-election, the only thing that perked me up after Nov. 6 was coming across a Time magazine published after the 2004 election …

House Judiciary Chair Introduces Unconstitutional Bill To Permanently Abolish The Income Tax  —  Last week, House Judiciary Chair Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) introduced the Tax Code Termination Act, which would abolish the entire federal tax code in 2018, with exceptions for Social Security and Medicare taxes …

Tennessee “Don't Say Gay” bill would require teachers to out their students  —  Language in the bill also appears to endorse counseling for students who are “at risk” of being LGBT  —  If you thought that you'd heard the last of Tennessee's “Don't Say Gay” bill after state lawmakers abandoned the legislation last year, think again.

Justice Department Files Antitrust Lawsuit Challenging Anheuser-Busch Inbev's Proposed Acquisition of Grupo Modelo … WASHINGTON - The Department of Justice filed a civil antitrust lawsuit today challenging Anheuser-Busch InBev's (ABI) proposed acquisition of total ownership and control of Grupo Modelo.