The Education of John Boehner  —  Leverage for the next clash: GOP willingness to let the spending sequester take effect.  —  What stunned House Speaker John Boehner more than anything else during his prolonged closed-door budget negotiations with Barack Obama was this revelation …

Topsy-turvy Hagel politics  —  President Obama wants to get credit for bipartisanship, so he picks a Republican defense secretary who will garner few if any Republican votes.  He walks away from a politically loyal African American woman for secretary of state (whose nomination would open …

John Brennan tapped to lead CIA  —  President Barack Obama will announce Monday that he's nominating the White House's point person on counterterrorism, John Brennan, to be the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency, White House officials told POLITICO.

Man ID'd as Rand Paul's son arrested at airport  —  A teenager identified in several media outlets as the son of U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and the grandson of former presidential candidate Ron Paul was arrested Saturday morning at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.

The Big Fail  —  It's that time again: the annual meeting of the American Economic Association and affiliates, a sort of medieval fair that serves as a marketplace for bodies (newly minted Ph.D.'s in search of jobs), books and ideas.  And this year, as in past meetings …

GOP Rep: 'It's About Time' We Had Another Government Shut Down  —  Appearing on CBS' Face the Nation this morning, Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ) enthusiastically called for a government shut down: … Watch it:  —  Salmon's theory, that the government shutdown somehow led to balanced budgets …

Democrat Says Obama's Gun Control Proposals Are Extreme  —  On ABC's This Week yesterday, Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp described President Obama's gun control proposals as “extreme.” … Unfortunately your browser does not support IFrames.  —  Heitkamp's comments come …

The conservative movement is still an elaborate moneymaking venture  —  The story of FreedomWorks' big Glenn Beck payout encapsulates the right-wing media  —  The conservative media movement exists primarily as a moneymaking venture.  As Rick Perlstein explained in the Baffler …

Drunk man celebrating his birthday busted after fatally shooting 34-year-old man inside Brooklyn diner  —  The inebriated customer grabbed a woman who had been standing next to patron Jason Lewis at the counter of the Country House Diner in Clinton Hill.  —  Police responded to a shooting at the Country House Diner.

Boehner Coup Attempt Larger Than First Thought  —  A concerted effort to unseat Speaker John A. Boehner was under way the day of his re-election to the position, but participants called it off 30 minutes before the House floor vote, CQ Roll Call has learned.

‘Shell-shocked’ lawmakers shy away from online piracy in new Congress  —  Nearly a year after a wave of online protests killed two anti-piracy bills, lawmakers are skittish about moving forward with legislation aimed at cracking down on websites that illegally distribute copies of movies and music.