The New Republic

  Valentine’s Day is here! Maybe you welcome the once-in-a-year opportunity to embrace schmaltzy romanticism; maybe you’re simply waiting for the February 15 candy sales. Either way, you must be wondering: Have scientists finally uncovered the secret to true love?    READ MORE >>

Congressional Republicans, still licking their wounds after a bruising, losing fight with President Obama over the payroll tax cut last December, have preemptively surrendered this time around. Late last year, they fought against a payroll tax cut extension and succeeded in limiting it to only two months. READ MORE >>

Today, a bomb destroyed an Israeli diplomatic car in New Delhi, injuring at least two people, and another bomb was defused after being discovered on an Israeli diplomatic vehicle in Tbilisi. Israel is blaming Iran for both of the attacks. How common are attacks on diplomats—and what form do they usually take? READ MORE >>

Every spring, the residents of Washington, D.C. are entranced by the arrival of the famous cherry blossoms, which bring beauty and happiness to the city. The annual spectacle that is the Conservative Political Action Conference is kind of the opposite. The movement’s heavy hitters—Gingrich! Romney! Coulter! Palin! Michelle Duggar, star of TLC’s “19 Kids & Counting”!—come to speak before excited crowds of freedom-lovers who hang on to their every word, listening for the person who best channels their outrage and who can lead them to victory over the hated Barack Obama this fall. READ MORE >>

After several days of heated controversy, the White House is unveiling a new compromise on contraception coverage. The plan seeks to protect the religious liberty of institutions whose beliefs condemn contraception while still preserving access to birth control for employees of those institutions. READ MORE >>

Earlier today, officials in Pakistan announced that a U.S. drone strike had killed Badar Mansoor, one of the highest-ranking al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistan. Mansoor, who allegedly organized several suicide attacks, as well as an assault in Lahore that killed nearly 100 people in 2010, joins the ranks of other high-profile militants, such as Anwar al-Awlaki and Ilyas Kashmiri, who have been killed by drones. READ MORE >>

Mitt Romney is not what you could call a man of the people—that is, if by “the people” you mean the voters he meets on the campaign trail. (The one-percent types he rubs shoulders with at dinner parties are a different story.) Much has been made of how out-of-touch Romney is with the middle-class Americans he is trying to win over. For some reason, we can’t help but recall that he’s the son of a governor, that he went to Harvard, and that he is fantastically rich. READ MORE >>

All hail Mitt Romney, winner of the Secret Service primary! On Wednesday, ABC News reported that Romney has begun receiving Secret Service protection. Apparently, now that he's won the Florida primary, Romney is serious enough to warrant official (taxpayer-funded!) protection. (In November, Herman Cain received Secret Service protection too, but that was because he received actual threats.) Who, exactly, determines which candidates merit protection? READ MORE >>

It’s Groundhog Day, and according to Punxsutawney Phil, we’re in for six more weeks of winter. The Los Angeles Times reports that other groundhogs offered a different forecast, which you might consider irrelevant—after all, there’s an official groundhog for this job, and he’s already made his views clear. But the disputed forecast does raise an urgent question: Just how much can we trust this meteorological Marmota monax? READ MORE >>

Earlier this week, officials at Claremont McKenna College admitted that a senior administrator had, since 2005, been reporting inflated SAT scores to publications like U.S. News & World Report in order to boost the school’s ranking. That admission has brought new scrutiny to college rankings, which many say are too influential. Do colleges and universities have any good reason to care what U.S. News thinks? READ MORE >>