Senators near a deal on background checks for most private gun sales  —  A bipartisan group of senators is on the verge of a deal that would expand background checks to all private firearms sales with limited exemptions, but significant disagreements remain on the issue of keeping records …

The big sequester gamble: How badly will the cuts hurt?  —  Evan Vucci/AP - President Barack Obama speaks in Chicago Feb. 15, 2013.  The president and congressional Republicans each seem content with the political ground they hold and are prepared to let across-the-board spending cuts take effect on March 1.

On the sequester, the American people ‘moved the goalposts’  —  I don't agree with my colleague Bob Woodward, who says the Obama administration is “moving the goalposts” when they insist on a sequester replacement that includes revenues.  I remember talking to both members of the Obama administration …

Political movies look to win big at Oscars  —  Political movies are expected to rake in the trophies at Sunday night's Academy Awards ceremony.  —  “Argo,” a film about the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, is favored to win the biggest prize of the night: Best Picture.

McCain: Backing immigration reform won't hurt GOP lawmakers in primaries  —  Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Sunday that he didn't think Republican lawmakers would be hurt in GOP primaries if they supported a comprehensive immigration overhaul.  —  McCain said he thought that GOP office holders …

Violent, Drunk and Holding a Gun  —  Multiple mass shootings by deranged young men have made keeping firearms out of the hands of mentally ill people a big part of the gun debate.  —  Given the enormity of those crimes, that is understandable.  Federal law does, in fact …

Court Finds No Right to Conceal a Firearm  —  DENVER (AP) — A federal appeals court has ruled that permits allowing people to carry concealed weapons are not protected by the Second Amendment.  —  The ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit was issued Friday …

UK's top cardinal accused of ‘inappropriate acts’ by priests  —  Three priests and former priest report Cardinal Keith O'Brien to Vatican over claims stretching back 33 years  —  Three priests and a former priest in Scotland have reported the most senior Catholic clergyman in Britain …

McCain predicts Hagel likely to get up-or-down Senate vote this week  —  Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Sunday that he expected President Obama's nominee for Defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, to get an up-or-down vote in the coming days.  —  “I think it will happen, barring …

Michael Goldfarb Gleeful Provocateur at Intersection of Many Worlds  —  At 11:42 a.m. on Feb. 14, a conservative online magazine called The Washington Free Beacon posted a dispatch about a speech Chuck Hagel gave in 2007 in which it said he called the State Department “an adjunct to the Israeli foreign minister's office.”

Rick Perry: Texas Will Never Go Blue  —  For many, it's the country's ultimate over-the-horizon electoral question: Could Texas become a blue state?  —  To which Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry emits a hearty guffaw.  Texas going blue, he says, “is the biggest pipedream I have ever heard.”