Anderson Cooper: “The Fact Is, I'm Gay.”  —  Last week, Entertainment Weekly ran a story on an emerging trend: gay people in public life who come out in a much more restrained and matter-of-fact way than in the past.  In many ways, it's a great development: we're evolved enough not to be gob-smacked when we find out someone's gay.

Mitch McConnell: Covering 30 million uninsured is ‘not the issue’  —  Mitch McConnell's appearance today on Fox News Sunday was remarkably revealing — it showed as clearly as you could want that the Supreme Court decision is finally forcing Republicans to declare what, exactly …

CPAC's boy wonder swings left  —  Jonathan Krohn took the political world by storm at 2009's Conservative Political Action Conference when, at just 13 years old, he delivered an impromptu rallying cry for conservatism that became a viral hit and had some pegging him as a future star of the Republican Party.

A Vast New Taxing Power  —  The Chief Justice's ObamaCare ruling is far from the check on Congress of right-left myth.  —  The commentary on John Roberts's solo walk into the Affordable Care Act wilderness is converging on a common theme: The Chief Justice is a genius.

Obamacare is the biggest tax increase in history ... if you ignore history  —  Maybe you've heard that Obamacare is the biggest tax increase in history.  Not so.  Not even close.  Kevin Drum posted the evidence in a table.  I turned it into a chart.  More here and here.

Why are Republicans so awful at picking Supreme Court justices?  —  Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.'s decision to side with the court's liberal bloc and uphold Obamacare raises an important question for conservatives: Why are Republicans so awful at picking Supreme Court justices?

US manufacturing shrinks for first time in 3 years  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. manufacturing shrank in June for the first time in nearly three years, a troubling sign as evidence builds that economic growth is slowing.  —  The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers …

Gov. Scott: Florida will not implement insurance exchanges or expand Medicare  —  Florida, the state the led the fight against President Obama's health care law, will not comply with the Supreme Court opinion.  —  Gov. Rick Scott tells Fox News that he and his Attorney General, Pam Bondi …

Armando Montano, AP summer intern, dies in Mexico City at age 22  —  Eduardo Verdugo/Associated Press - In this June 4, 2012 photo, Armando Montano, 22, poses for an ID photo at the Associated Press office in Mexico City.  Montano, an aspiring journalist who was working this summer …

Christie Calls Reporter “Idiot” at Press Conference  —  When a reporter tried to ask Chris Christie an off-topic question at a press conference, the governor snapped at him  —  New Jersey's governor is known for speaking his mind when something displeases him.

Secret Service disrupts students' ‘Fire Holder protest’ over ‘suspicious package’  —  The Secret Service on Monday shutdown a student-protest calling for the firing of Attorney General Eric Holder saying they were acting on concerns over a ‘a suspicious package’ apparently left by a tourist on White House grounds.

Romney Invested in Medical-Waste Firm That Disposed of Aborted Fetuses, Government Documents Show  —  And these documents challenge Romney's claim that he left Bain Capital in early 1999.  —  Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Zuma  —  Earlier this year, Mitt Romney nearly landed …

The real victor in Brussels was Merkel  —  Mario Monti faced down the German chancellor and won the battle.  He will survive a few more weeks or months in politics.  It was clever of him to threaten a veto on something Angela Merkel badly needed.  He had her in the corner.

Europe's Great Illusion  —  Over the past few months I've read a number of optimistic assessments of the prospects for Europe.  Oddly, however, none of these assessments argue that Europe's German-dictated formula of redemption through suffering has any chance of working.

A Tale of One Tragedy and Two Campaigns  —  As I am sure you have heard several states are in a state of emergency due to a sudden thunder-storm that was accompanied by high winds.  Millions were left without power during days of record heat.  I am among the powerless.

Vice president hopefuls play the name game  —  The vice-presidential selection process is not merely the act of each nominee picking a running mate.  It's also the political equivalent of the Oscars.  —  Just as aspiring movie stars covet being among the nominees for cinema's ultimate prize …