Weiner Tells Friends He Will Step Down  —  WASHINGTON — Representative Anthony D. Weiner has told friends that he plans to resign his seat after coming under growing pressure from his Democratic colleagues to leave the House in the wake of revelations of his lewd online exchanges with women, said a person told of Mr. Weiner's plans.

Ex-Spy Alleges Bush White House Sought to Discredit Critic  —  WASHINGTON — A former senior C.I.A. official says that officials in the Bush White House sought damaging personal information on a prominent American critic of the Iraq war in order to discredit him.

Romney, Bachmann, Cain Lead The Pack Among GOP Primary Voters  —  Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney continues to lead the race for the Republican nomination, but Michele Bachmann has surged into second place following her Monday night entry into the campaign.

Bachmann Said To Have Deal For Memoir  —  Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota has made a deal to publish her memoir, selling a book to Sentinel, a conservative imprint at Penguin Group USA, two people familiar with the negotiations said on Thursday.

Return Of The Dreaded Misery Index  —  Economy: As if the picture weren't bleak enough, here's one more data point to worry about — the Misery Index is on the rise.  —  Conceived by economist Arthur Okun in the early 1970s, the Misery Index simply adds together the inflation and unemployment rates …

Ayman al-Zawahiri appointed as al-Qaeda leader  —  Zawahiri warned a week ago that Bin Laden would continue to “terrify” the US from beyond the grave  —  Al-Qaeda has appointed Ayman al-Zawahiri as leader following the death of Osama Bin Laden, the organisation's general command says in a statement.

San Francisco Mulls Goldfish Ban  —  First kittens, then puppies and hamsters and now goldfish?  —  San Francisco's Animal Control and Welfare Commission is recommending that the City ban the sale of goldfish, tropical fish and guppies in its borders, according to Matier and Ross.

The Big Questions: Why Bachmann?  —  Mark Halperin's Big Questions in the new issue of TIME on the rise of the Gentlelady from Minnesota.  —  Why has Michele Bachmann suddenly become the It candidate?  —  With her impressive New Hampshire debate performance, Bachmann has gone …

Our Lefty Military  —  As we search for paths out of America's economic crisis, many suggest business as a paradigm for cutting costs.  According to my back-of-the-envelope math, top C.E.O.'s earn as much as $1 a second around the clock, partly by cutting medical benefits for employees.

Obama's unauthorized war on Libya costs $9,421,000 a day: Are you getting your money's worth?  —  The Obama administration is spending almost $9.5 million every single day to blow things up in Libya because the president has determined that is in the country's national interest, this country's national interest, not Libya's.

Exclusive: Jimmy Henchman Associate Admits to Role in Robbery/Shooting of Tupac; Apologizes To Pac & B.I.G.'s Mothers  —  (AllHipHop News) A man has admitted to being involved in the attack on rap star Tupac Shakur in 1994, inside Manhattan's Quad Studios in November of 1994 …

U.S. Satisfaction Dips to 20% in June  —  Economy continues to be named nation's top problem  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Americans' satisfaction with the way things are going in the country fell to 20% in early June from 26% at the start of May.  Seventy-eight percent of Americans are now dissatisfied …

GOP skirmishes complicate Boehner's plan on debt ceiling deal  —  A series of policy battles that have broken out among House Republicans poses a significant challenge to Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) effort to unify his troops on a bill raising the nation's debt ceiling.

Your morning jolt: Atlanta office left $13,000 in drawer, says Newt Gingrich  —  GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich this morning pushed back against his former staff, accusing his Atlanta office of neglecting $13,000 in checks to his campaign.  —  Gingrich may want to be careful.

Beatable, And He Knows It  —  Politics: The president jokes about unemployment and says ATM machines kill jobs.  Mean-while, one of his top aides says 2012 voters should avoid “affixing blame.”  Sounds to us like someone who knows he's in trouble.  —  The Republican National Committee …

Activists by Invitation  —  No one loves an activist judge.  We know this because members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are forever denouncing “judicial activism” and warning of its hidden dangers.  Last summer, when Sen. Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, became the first member …

Czechs withdraw from US missile-defense plans  —  Count the Czech Republic out of any American missile-defense system in Europe.  The Czechs formally withdrew from the missile-defense partnership with the US, prompting one lawmaker in Prague to complain that “the current administration doesn't take the Czech Republic seriously.”

After GOP debate, feeling nostalgic for George W. Bush  —  Perhaps I should thank the current crop of Republican presidential candidates for providing me with an experience I never, ever expected: During this week's debate in New Hampshire, I had a moment of nostalgia for George W. Bush.

GOP targets funding of Consumer Bureau  —  Republicans have opened up another front on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in their latest appropriations legislation.  —  The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday released its fiscal 2012 appropriations bill for financial services …

Exclusive: FreedomWorks will make Orrin Hatch first 2012 target  —  It's official: Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch is the first Republican incumbent who will be targeted by one of the nation's most influential Tea Party-aligned organizations.  —  FreedomWorks PAC plans to launch a …