House Republicans Cheer Boehner's Refusal to Negotiate on Cuts  —  WASHINGTON — Speaker John A. Boehner, the man who spent significant portions of the last Congress shuttling to and from the White House for fiscal talks with President Obama that ultimately failed twice to produce a grand bargain …

Lawmaker Makes Lewd Remark to Teenage Girl  —  Connecticut state Rep. Ernest Hewett (D) made an inappropriate remark to a 17 year old girl testifying about a program that helped her overcome her shyness and get over her fear of snakes, the New London Day reports.

Covert Malaysian Campaign Touched A Wide Range Of American Media  —  Outlets from Huffington Post to National Review carried pieces financed by the Malaysian government.  An international campaign against Anwar Ibrahim.  —  Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak (R) talks …

BREAKING: Solicitor General asks Supreme Court for time to participate in Prop 8 argument  —  Plaintiffs in the Prop 8 case.  Attribution: LGBTQ Nation  —  The Solicitor General of the United States, who filed an amicus brief at the Supreme Court yesterday in Hollingsworth v. Perry …

If you might want to insult Harvard down the line, go elsewhere  —  If you think Harvard is a revolutionary communist hotbed, don't apply.  If you think Harvard is full of “pinheaded” professors, don't enroll.  And if you think Harvard pollutes the minds of its students …

An Economic Tragedy That Everyone Saw Coming Is Now Unfolding In Europe...  The European economy has been a trainwreck for a long time, but there have been varying stages of it.  —  From 2007 through 2010 or so, the European economy basically went through the same trajectory as the US.

A Cheer or Two for Sequestration  —  From left, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, and House Speaker John Boehner speak at a news conference on Tuesday in Washington.  —  A lot of liberals I read are very hot to trot with the idea that Congress should just repeal sequestration tout court.

Romney Slams Obama Over Sequestration (VIDEO)  —  In his first post-election interview that will air Sunday morning on Fox News, former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said President Barack Obama has flopped in his handling of the sequestration debate.

NRA president defends gun-rights protesters at massive Albany rally who compared Gov. Cuomo to Hitler  —  Critics charged the use of Nazi imagery at gun rally was ‘offensive and digraceful’  —  Gun owners at a massive Albany rally on Thursday depicted Gov. Andrew Cuomo as Adolf Hitler.

Obama: I Can't Use ‘Jedi Mindmeld’ On Congress To Fix Sequestration  —  Asked why he doesn't just sit down with congressional leaders until a sequestration deal is reached, President Obama said Friday that he can't lock lawmakers in a room.  —  “I am not a dictator, I'm the President,” Obama said.

More than 700 pages of healthcare rules released  —  The Obama administration on Friday released more than 700 pages of new regulations to implement portions of the Affordable Care Act.  —  The four rules, which are scheduled for publication in mid-March, finalize both major and minor parts …

Duke Energy won't be repaid $10 million from DNC  —  Duke Energy won't be repaid the $10 million line of credit it guaranteed for Charlotte to host last year's Democratic National Convention, the company confirmed Thursday.  —  As the credit line came due, Duke made official what it had signaled …

Ben Bernanke, Hippie  —  We're just a few weeks away from a milestone I suspect most of Washington would like to forget: the start of the Iraq war.  What I remember from that time is the utter impenetrability of the elite prowar consensus.  If you tried to point out that the Bush administration …

Massachusetts official challenges Chief Justice Roberts' claim about voting  —  Galvin rebukes nation's top judge  —  Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. certainly sounded authoritative when he made a striking, though unflattering, declaration about Massachusetts …

CPAC's Empty Chairs  —  The sponsors and organizers of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) are voluntary associations that are of course entitled to advocate conservative causes as they see fit, including by controlling who is and who is not invited to participate in the conference.

Michigan to Appoint Emergency Fiscal Manager for Detroit  —  DETROIT — Gov. Rick Snyder of Michigan announced on Friday that the city of Detroit is so snarled in financial woes that the state must appoint an emergency manager to lead it out of disaster.  —  “There is probably no city …

Horsemeat scandal: Four new products test positive  —  Nearly 2,000 tests for horsemeat have been carried out by British retailers  —  Four beef products sold by Bird's Eye, Taco Bell and catering supplier Brakes have been found to contain horse DNA, the Food Standards Agency says.