Lawmaker invites Ted Nugent to Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday  —  Outspoken musician and gun right supporter Ted Nugent will be Rep. Steve Stockman's guest Tuesday night at President Obama's State of the Union address.  —  Nugent is well known for his defense of the Second Amendment …

China joins U.S., Japan, EU in condemning North Korea nuclear test  —  (Reuters) - North Korea conducted its third nuclear test on Tuesday in defiance of existing U.N. resolutions, drawing condemnation from the United States, Japan, Europe and Pyongyang's only major ally, China, which summoned the North Korean ambassador to protest.

Biden: We're counting on ‘legitimate media’ for successful gun control effort … During a press conference on gun safety in Philadelphia, Vice President Joe Biden said that any reports that suggest that he was trying to take weapons away from gun owners was a “bunch of malarkey.”

New Study Finds Koch Bros. Tried to Start Tea Party Movement in 2002  —  Were David Koch (and his brother Charles) planning to astroturf the Tea Party even earlier than formerly suspected?  —  Shattering the public perception that the Tea Party is a spontaneous popular citizens movement …

Ex-Tea Party Rep. Joe Walsh insists he's not trying to stop paying child support  —  After insisting he wasn't a “deadbeat dad” throughout his failed campaign for re-election, ex-U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh is still dogged by questions about child support.  —  Walsh, a flame-throwing Tea Party Republican …

Wow, Joe Scarborough Doesn't Understand Economics at All  —  A couple of weeks ago, Joe Scarborough invited Paul Krugman onto his MSNBC show.  The meeting of the brilliant but prickly Krugman with the dopey but genial Scarborough held the promise of a cataclysmic matter-touches-antimatter collision …

Sources: White House to issue cybersecurity order Wednesday  —  The White House is poised to release an executive order aimed at thwarting cyberattacks against critical infrastructure on Wednesday, two people familiar with the matter told The Hill.  —  The highly anticipated directive …

Justice Ginsburg: The Senate Is ‘Destroying The United States’ Reputation... As A Beacon of Democracy'  —  Two years ago, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg lamented that if she were nominated today to her current job on the Supreme Court, her “ACLU connection would probably disqualify” her from being confirmed.

New Winger Conspiracy Theory Takes Flight  —  In the wake of news that Sen. Lindsey Graham is threatening to block the nominations of Hagel and Brennan, there's a whole new conspiracy theory bubbling up on the right.  From ground zero of Obama era conspiracy theories comes the conspiracy theory …

House Republicans Unlikely To Pass New Sequester Replacement Plan  —  Buried in this Politico story about the House GOP's sequester strategy is a key admission. … This is what Republicans — most recently House Majority Leader Eric Cantor — are obscuring when they claim, in Cantor's words …

Esquire article wrongly claims SEAL who killed Bin Laden is denied healthcare  —  Esquire magazine claims “The Man Who Killed Osama bin Laden ... Is Screwed.”  —  The story details the life of the Navy SEAL after the successful raid to take out the No. 1 terrorist, and it asserts that once …

Millions Improperly Claimed U.S. Phone Subsidies  —  The U.S. government spent about $2.2 billion last year to provide phones to low-income Americans, but a Wall Street Journal review of the program shows that a large number of those who received the phones haven't proved they are eligible to receive them.

State of the Union squatters: Lawmakers wait hours on aisle for seconds with president  —  View Photo Gallery — The State of the Union's history: Technology and partisanship have transformed the State of the Union over the past century.  Here's a look back.

Push To Gauge Bang For Buck From College Gains Steam  —  U.S. and state officials are intensifying efforts to hold colleges accountable for what happens after graduation, a sign of frustration with sky-high tuition costs and student-loan debt.  —  Sens. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) and Marco Rubio …