Obama, the puppet master  —  President Barack Obama is a master at limiting, shaping and manipulating media coverage of himself and his White House.  —  Not for the reason that conservatives suspect: namely, that a liberal press willingly and eagerly allows itself to get manipulated.

Marco Rubio: The Electable Conservative?  —  Some commentators have expressed surprise upon learning about the very conservative voting record of Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who delivered the Republican response to the State of the Union address last week.

Supreme Court to Hear Campaign Finance Case  —  WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a challenge to federal campaign contribution limits and issued decisions concerning a drug-sniffing dog, an international child-custody dispute and when the police may detain people while conducting a search.

A BIPARTISAN PATH FORWARD TO SECURING AMERICA'S FUTURE  —  Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson are co-chairs of the Moment of Truth project and formerly co-chaired the President's bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.  —  The United States faces two big risks …

More Republican Denial  —  Conservatives keep reminding everyone that the sequester was Obama's idea.  But, says Michael Tomasky, that doesn't mean he's to blame for the current crisis.  —  Whose “idea” was the sequester, and why should it matter?  My Twitter feed these last couple of weeks …

Missouri Bill Makes It A Felony For Lawmakers To Propose Gun Safety Legislation  —  Yesterday, Missouri state Rep. Mike Leara (R) proposed legislation making it a felony for lawmakers to so much as propose many bills regulating guns.  Leara's bill provides that “[a]ny member of the general assembly …

Tea party group pictures Rove in Nazi uniform  —  A top tea party group is taking its clash with Karl Rove to a new level, sending out a fundraising email Tuesday featuring a photoshopped image of the GOP operative in an SS uniform.  —  “Wipe the Smirk Off Karl Rove's Face,” …

Report: Hagel Said Israel Headed Toward Apartheid, Netanyahu a ‘Radical’  —  Secretary of defense nominee Chuck Hagel said Israel is on its way to becoming an apartheid state during an April 9, 2010, appearance at Rutgers University, according to a contemporaneous account by an attendee.

What Data Can't Do  —  Not long ago, I was at a dinner with the chief executive of a large bank.  He had just had to decide whether to pull out of Italy, given the weak economy and the prospect of a future euro crisis.  —  The C.E.O. had his economists project out a series of downside scenarios …

Congress Approval Holding Steady at 15%  —  Up one point from January, but at the low end of the historical spectrum  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Americans' approval of Congress is at 15% in February, one percentage point higher than in January and exactly matching the 15% average for all of 2012.

Exclusive: Apple, Macs hit by hackers who targeted Facebook  —  (Reuters) - Apple Inc was recently attacked by hackers who infected the Macintosh computers of some employees, the company said on Tuesday in an unprecedented disclosure that described the widest known cyber attacks against Apple-made computers to date.

Chinese Army Unit Is Seen as Tied to Hacking Against U.S.  —  On the outskirts of Shanghai, in a run-down neighborhood dominated by a 12-story white office tower, sits a People's Liberation Army base for China's growing corps of cyberwarriors.  —  The building off Datong Road …

Aaron Swartz's FBI File  —  When I heard the news of Aaron Swartz's suicide I was deeply saddened or more accurately profoundly irritated.  Why had the government - or should I say U.S Attorney Carmen Ortiz - wasted so much time and resources destroying someone over such an inconsequential act?

Targeted killings: OK if Obama does it?  —  Salon exclusive: Study finds “liberals” more likely to favor targeted killings once they know it's Obama's policy  —  Civil libertarians have worried that some of President Obama's comparatively hawkish national security policies are silencing …

Oscar Pistorius Denies Murdering Girlfriend  —  PRETORIA, South Africa — Facing a charge of premeditated murder in the death of his girlfriend, Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee track star and one of the world's best-known athletes, denied on Tuesday that he had intended to take her life …

Prof Strips, Shows 9/11 Footage, Impales Stuffed Animal (VIDEO)  —  A science professor at Columbia University on Monday began a quantum mechanics lecture by stripping into his boxers and eating a banana while rap music played in the background.  —  Then it got weird.

WCBS-TV newsman Rob Morrison threatened to ‘kill his wife’ after he was arrested and accused of choking her; Police report paints angry anchorman as a boozy bully with an internet porn habit  —  Rob Morrison has a history of domestic violence and was arrested for assault in 2009 after a confrontation …

59 percent of Americans oppose DOMA: poll  — Stumble upon something good?  Share it on StumbleUpon  — Send via Email  — Send this page to Print Friendly  —  New polls find growing support for marriage equality.  (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Biden: 'You Don't Need 30 Rounds.  Buy a Shotgun'  —  Vice President Joe Biden said people don't need high-capacity weapons to protect themselves and that the Obama administration's efforts to reduce gun violence amount to gun safety, not gun control.  —  “If you want to protect yourself …

Christensen, Flier and Vijayaraghavan: The Coming Failure of ‘Accountable Care’  —  The Affordable Care Act's updated versions of HMOs are based on flawed assumptions about doctor and patient behavior.  —  Spurred by the Affordable Care Act, hundreds of pilot programs called Accountable Care Organizations …

Police ID Gunman in OC Shooting Deaths  —  Four people are dead after a series of shootings and carjackings near freeways in Orange County that began after the slaying of a woman at a home in Ladera Ranch.  —  Map: Shooting Investigation Locations  —  The gunman was identified as Ali Syed …