Durbin Hits Back At NRA's LaPierre: ‘You Missed That Point Completely’ (VIDEO)  —  After National Rifle Association exectuive vice president Wayne LaPierre insisted during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence Wednesday that universal background checks on firearms purchases …

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 …

Tennessee 'Don't Say Gay' Bill Now Requires Teachers To Inform Parents If Their Child Is Gay  —  Tennessee's so-called 'Don't Say Gay' bill died with the adjournment of the state assembly last year.  But now the measure is back — with new, harsher requirements.

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 …

Rand Paul: GOP must ‘evolve’ on immigration  —  Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Wednesday that Republicans must “evolve” on immigration while preventing America from becoming a magnet for immigrants to come and get benefits.  —  “We cannot just be a beacon for everyone to come here on benefits …

Obama administration takes steps to implement individual mandate  —  The Obama administration took new steps Wednesday toward implementing the individual mandate in its signature healthcare law, downplaying the scope of the unpopular provision by stressing rules that allow exemptions from the requirement to purchase insurance.

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.

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 …

Some families to be priced out of health overhaul  —  WASHINGTON (AP) - Some families could get priced out of health insurance due to what's being called a glitch in President Barack Obama's overhaul law.  IRS regulations issued Wednesday failed to fix the problem as liberal backers of the president's plan had hoped.

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.

A résumé check: Is Chuck Hagel up to the job?  —  There's not much on Chuck Hagel's résumé that screams secretary of defense.  —  He's not a former White House chief of staff, like Dick Cheney or Donald Rumsfeld.  He never ran the CIA, like Leon Panetta or Robert Gates.

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.

Backyard Farming Gets Fancy  —  High-End ‘Homesteaders’ Want Pricey, Stylish Tools; The $1,300 Chicken Coop  —  Can chicken feed, canning jars and garden hoses feel chic?  —  Absolutely, say retailers cashing in on the “modern homesteader” craze.  As more urban and suburban homeowners …

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 …

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 Sen. Bob Menendez at a series of sex parties organized by Dr. Salomon Melgen, a longtime Menendez campaign donor.

Law Schools' Applications Fall as Costs Rise and Jobs Are Cut  —  Law school applications are headed for a 30-year low, reflecting increased concern over soaring tuition, crushing student debt and diminishing prospects of lucrative employment upon graduation.

For immediate release  —  Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in December suggests that growth in economic activity paused in recent months, in large part because of weather-related disruptions and other transitory factors.  Employment has continued to expand …

Israeli Jets Attack Target Deep in Syria  —  JERUSALEM — Israeli warplanes carried out a strike deep inside Syrian territory on Wednesday, American officials reported, saying they believed the target was a convoy carrying sophisticated antiaircraft weaponry on the outskirts of Damascus …

Obama goes ‘skeet shooting all the time’?  Hardly ever, sources say  —  Jan. 29, 2013: President Obama waves to reporters as he walks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington.AP  —  News of President Obama's apparently long-secret fondness for skeet shooting came as a surprise …

Home invasion suspect arrested after woman opens fire  —  Suspect arrested at hospital … MAGNOLIA, Texas -  —  A home invasion suspect was arrested at a hospital after a mother shot him during the crime at a Montgomery County home, deputies said Wednesday.

Government is hurting the economy — by spending too little  —  You've heard this before: The government is holding the economy back.  And it's true.  The newly released numbers for economic growth in the fourth quarter, which show the economy shrinking at an 0.1 percent annual rate, prove that.

Reid Tips His Hand Over Dems' Sequester Strategy  —  In the House of Representatives, Republicans claim they've braced themselves to let the full force of the sequester hit government programs of all kinds on March 1, defense most directly, rather than compromise with Democrats to replace …

Teen Performer At Inaugural Events Fatally Shot In Chicago  —  Hadiyah Pendleton, 15, was shot in the back while hanging out with a group of teens on Tuesday  —  Hadiya Pendleton died after she was shot in the back while hanging out with a group of teens on Tuesday.  Police say she wasn't the intended target.