Budget deal leaves liberals disheartened  —  The $38.5 billion deal brokered between Republicans and President Barack Obama on Friday night may have resolved the immediate threat of a government shutdown.  But it didn't take long for many liberal Democrats to begin to realize that there might …

Donald Trump Responds  —  To the Editor:  —  Re “Donald Trump Gets Weirder,” by Gail Collins (column, April 2):  —  Even before Gail Collins was with the New York Times, she has written nasty and derogatory articles about me.  Actually, I have great respect for Ms. Collins in that she has survived so long with so little talent.

Banks Are Off the Hook Again  —  Americans know that banks have mistreated borrowers in many ways in foreclosure cases.  Among other things, they habitually filed false court documents.  There were investigations.  We've been waiting for federal and state regulators to crack down.

NI bomb ‘threatened mass murder’  —  Police say bomb found in van on main Belfast to Dublin road could have resulted in huge devastation and loss of life  —  Dissident republicans who prepared a 500lb (227kg) van bomb risked causing an Omagh-style massacre, politicians in Northern Ireland have said.

Third day of ‘sleep-in’ at Washington state capitol  —  OLYMPIA, Wash. - Thousands of union members from all over Washington poured into the state Capitol Friday, calling on lawmakers to “put people first” by ending corporate tax breaks and painful cuts to public programs.

Why Progressives Keep On Losing and the Right Keeps On Winning  —  Congratulations!  The “grand compromise” will cut nearly thirty nine billion dollars in needed government spending, which proves how “serious” everyone is about reducing the deficit.  The grand compromisers could have cancelled …

Next on the Agenda for Washington: Fight Over Debt  —  WASHINGTON — The down-to-the-wire partisan struggle over cuts to this year's federal budget has intensified concern in Washington, on Wall Street and among economists about the more consequential clash coming over increasing the government's borrowing limit.

Obama Makes Campaign Stop of Sorts at Lincoln Memorial  —  President Barack Obama played tourist Saturday afternoon in what looked a lot like a retail campaign stop at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. … Mr. Obama, who officially launched his 2012 re-election campaign …

Copious Quantities of Casuistry  —  Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen on Thursday filed a filed a Petition for Supervisory Writ [PDF] directly to the state Supreme Court over a circuit court judge's temporary blocking of the Budget Repair Bill.  The petition is absolutely devastating …

Egypt: Army crackdown in Cairo's Tahrir Square  —  The BBC's Yolande Knell: “There are burnt-out vehicles still smouldering”  —  Egypt's army has cracked down on protests in Cairo's symbolic Tahrir Square, leaving at least one person dead and dozens injured.