Public Wants Changes in Entitlements, Not Changes in Benefits  —  GOP Divided Over Benefit Reductions  —  OVERVIEW  —  As policymakers at the state and national level struggle with rising entitlement costs, overwhelming numbers of Americans agree that, over the years, Social Security …

Letter to Senator Patty Murray, Chair Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee  —  Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee  —  Dear Senator Murray:  —  For many months now, your colleagues in the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee leadership have engaged in a series of disparagements …

Boehner: ‘Maybe 50-50’ Chance of a Debt Deal Reached Within 48 Hours  —  House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, speaks with reporters after a meeting with House Republicans on Capitol Hill on Thursday.  —  House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, informed fellow House Republicans on Thursday …

Chase Gets Man Thrown In Jail For Fraudulent Check.  Except The Check Is Legit.  —  Ikenna, a 28-year old construction worker, went to deposit a $8,463.21 Chase cashier's check at his local Chase branch, only for the teller to decide that neither he nor his check looked right and he got tossed in jail for forgery, KING5 reports.

Elizabeth Smart, Network Pundit?  —  Amid the Casey Anthony frenzy, ABC News is close to unveiling its latest contributor.  Howard Kurtz reports exclusively on the kidnap victim's new career.  —  Elizabeth Smart first came into our consciousness nearly a decade ago as a 14-year-old girl kidnapped from her Salt Lake City bedroom.

News of the World to close amid hacking scandal  —  Police are investigating allegations of phone hacking by the News of the World  —  This Sunday's issue of the News of the World will be the last edition of the paper, News International chairman James Murdoch has said.

Why the Republicans Resist Compromise  —  The chart that I'm going to show you is one of the more important ones that we've presented at FiveThirtyEight in some time.  It helps explain a lot of what's going on in American politics today, from the negotiations over the federal debt ceiling to the Republican presidential primaries.

Mexican Citizen Is Executed as Justices Refuse to Step In  —  WASHINGTON — In a 5-to-4 decision that split along ideological lines, the Supreme Court on Thursday evening rebuffed a request from the Obama administration that it stay the execution of a Mexican citizen on death row in Texas.

DNC chairwoman a work in progress  —  When President Barack Obama selected Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz to lead the Democratic National Committee, she was hailed as the best pick he could make.  —  Since her election to Congress, Wasserman Schultz has quickly earned a reputation …

BREAKING: Bachmann pledges to ban pornography  —  Tonight, Michele Bachmann became the first presidential candidate to sign a pledge created by THE FAMiLY LEADER, an influential social-conservative group in Iowa.  By signing the pledge Bachmann “vows” to “uphold the institution of marriage …

Why Jamie Leigh Jones Could Lose Her KBR Rape Case  —  Her story of a brutal attack in Iraq sparked a national outcry—but how much of it is true?  —  Post Comment  —  The allegations were explosive when they first hit in 2007: A 20-year-old woman named Jamie Leigh Jones alleged that four days …

Father spoke of having Obama adopted  —  US immigration files from '61 reveal Kenyan student's plan  —  President Obama as a young boy, with his father, who left when his son was 2.  (Obama for America via Associated Press)  —  In the spring of 1961, President Obama's father revealed …

How Republicans and Tea Partiers Alike Used the Heritage Foundation's #AskObama Script  —  Yesterday, President Obama held a live chat session on Twitter.  Billed as a “townhall,” the President spent an hour fielding questions from Twitter users about the state of the nation.

Say No To the Dems' July Surprise  —  Many times in the past, Congress has voted to raise the nation's debt ceiling with little or no controversy.  Not so this year.  The Republicans turned the vote on the debt ceiling into a major political issue by threatening to vote No …

Top Obama adviser says unemployment won't be key in 2012  —  President Obama's senior political adviser David Plouffe said Wednesday that people won't vote in 2012 based on the unemployment rate.  —  Plouffe should probably hope that's the case, since dismal job figures aren't expected …

Political Turns Personal: Mayor Will Officiate at Gay Advisers' Wedding  —  Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg summoned his chief policy adviser, John Feinblatt, to his desk at City Hall a few days ago for what seemed like a routine conversation with the boss.  “Let's get a cup of coffee,” the mayor told him, motioning to the office kitchen.

What happens on August 3?  —  Samuel Beckett's famous phrase “You must go on, I can't go on, I'll go on” is a pretty good summation of what will face Treasury come August 3 if there's no deal on the debt limit.  Reuters has a fantastic story this evening on the impossible quandary facing Treasury officials …