Gov. Rick Perry: Texas Could Secede, Leave Union  —  HuffPost has comprehensive coverage of the Tax Day Tea Party protests.  Click here for the latest photos and video.  —  AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Rick Perry fired up an anti-tax “tea party” Wednesday with his stance against the federal government …

CNN beclowns itself  —  Call the wah-mbulance.  —  So, the Tea Party protests are “not fit for family viewing” according to one very unhappy CNN reporter, Susan Roesgen, who also fumes over what she calls an “offensive” anti-Obama sign that compares Obama to a fascist.  (And yes, I told you this was going to happen.)

N.S.A.'s Intercepts Exceed Limits Set by Congress  —  WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress last year, government officials said in recent interviews.

For Gov. Palin, a Rough Return to the Day Job  —  JUNEAU, Alaska — Before Tina Fey and “Drill, baby, drill,” there was mud season here in the Alaskan capital.  This soggy, socked-in spring has been no exception, but it sure has been different in other ways.

President Obama Ordered the Killing of Three Black Muslim Kids  —  BEGIN TRANSCRIPT  —  RUSH: You know what we have learned about the Somali pirates, the merchant marine organizers that were wiped out at the order of Barack Obama, you know what we learned about them?  They were teenagers.

Hair Stylist Keeps Armed Robber as Sex Slave  —  In what is either the weirdest Russian crime story of the year so far or a new low in yellow crime journalism, a female hair stylist in the Kaluga region is suspected of holding an armed robber in captivity as a sex slave for two days …

Katie Couric's Notebook: Tea Parties  —  Katie's off today.  I'm Maggie Rodriguez.  —  It was a major catalyst for our independence from Britain: the tea party in Boston harbor 235 years ago.  And it seems Americans have been grumbling about their paying taxes ever since ... just not quite like this.

Sestak for Senate?  —  In the fundraising battle of the three Pennsylvania House Democrats considering running for the Senate, we have a clear fundraising winner: Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.)  —  Sestak, who has been seriously considering a Senate campaign, raised $550,000 in the first three months of the year …

“On 9/11, I think they hit the wrong building”  —  A woman participates in a Tax Day rally in Lafayette Park in Washington Wednesday.  —  WASHINGTON — The gathering in Lafayette Square, in honor both of tax day and of a generalized fury at Barack Obama, his budget, the Federal Reserve …

Pelosi calls for panel to probe Wall Street  —  (04-15) 16:14 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying that the American people are demanding “discipline and accountability” after the multibillion-dollar federal bailouts, promised Wednesday to create a legislative commission …

Portions of CIA Memos Expected to Be Released  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is expected to release some operational details of a Central Intelligence Agency interrogation program and its legal rationale, while seeking to keep secret the names of detainees and the way techniques …

Iraq air raids hit mostly women and children  —  Report urges review of military strategy when targeting urban areas  —  Air strikes and artillery barrages have taken a heavy toll among the most vulnerable of the Iraqi people, with children and women forming a disproportionate number of the dead.

At last: final numbers from Saratoga County  —  The bottom line: Tedisco picks up 163 173 corrected votes after all paper ballots — including military — have been counted.  But remember that there are still more than 700 contested ballots in that county alone, and reportedly more than 1,200 across all 10 counties.

1 Million Tea Bags, But No Place to Dump  —  Permits end dumping before it starts  —  WASHINGTON — It was a great idea, really.  Take a million tea bags and dump them in Lafayette Park to protest government spending.  Hip, hip, hoo-ray!  —  But a funny thing happened en route to a visually pleasing Tax Day protest.

Charlie Justice running for Bill Young's seat  —  Democrat Charlie Justice will end a decade-long state legislative career to challenge C.W. Bill Young for Congress.  “The decisions made in Washington D.C. more and more impact our daily lives and that's what drew me to public service in the first place …

Ruminations on banking  —  (1) The autodafé of the unsecured creditors is coming to a US bank near you  —  A binding budget constraint sure concentrates the mind, even for the US Treasury.  There is just one way to make the US government's policy towards the banks work.