Obama praises ‘tough as nails’ Pelosi at California fundraiser  —  (CNN) - Rep. Nancy Pelosi is a “visionary” leader who “never lets ideology cloud her judgment,” President Barack Obama told a crowd of donors in San Francisco Wednesday evening.  —  Obama is in the Golden State …

A viewer's guide to Clinton Fever  —  Will she run or won't she?  —  The obsessive speculation about Hillary Clinton's plans for 2016 promises to be the longest and most intense parlor game in the history of American politics.  It is a consuming fixation already, not just among the operatives …

The President Gives Hollywood a Pass on Violence  —  Movies and videogames aren't high among White House concerns.  —  There was something missing from President Obama's Wednesday speech in Denver about gun violence.  He focused almost exclusively on passing gun-control laws …

U.S. Dials Back on Korean Show of Force  —  Administration ‘Playbook’ Outlined Publicized Exercises, but Officials Change Course Over Worries of North's Response  —  WASHINGTON—After a high-visibility display of military power aimed at deterring North Korean provocations …

Schools push a curriculum of propaganda  —  The real vocation of some people entrusted with delivering primary and secondary education is to validate this proposition: The three R's — formerly reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic — now are racism, reproduction and recycling.  Especially racism.

Maryland House passes gun-control bill  —  Handgun licensing, assault weapons ban and magazine limit approved  —  One of the toughest gun control plans in the country may soon be reality in Maryland.  (WJZ video)  —  The House of Delegates voted Wednesday to give Maryland …

Gun poll: Most say background checks may bring confiscation  —  A plurality of Americans believe the federal government could use information gleaned from expanded background checks to confiscate legally-owned firearms, according to a Quinnipiac survey released Thursday.

He Wears the Mask  —  The present darling of the right wing, Dr. Benjamin Carson, is a distinguished neurosurgeon who went from the depths of Detroit poverty to the heights of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.  But his current status among conservatives isn't so much rooted …

Jobless claims at four-month high, cast shadow over labor market  —  (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits hit a four-month high last week, suggesting the labor market recovery lost some steam in March.  —  Initial claims for state unemployment …

The New House Republican Web Strategy: Just Add BuzzFeed  —  What do cat pictures and GIFs have to do with Republican politics?  Not a whole lot, at least right now.  But beginning next week, that'll change.  —  Staffers at the National Republican Congressional Committee are finishing …

$423,500 Stimulus Program on ‘Correct Condom Use’ Yields Zero Jobs  —  The details of a stimulus grant awarded to Indiana University to study condom use have now been released on a government website.  The study, titled “Barriers to Correct Condom Use,” is now completed, according to the website …

Remembering the Affair to Remember  —  It's kind of nice to have Mark Sanford back.  —  Perhaps not if you're from South Carolina.  It is my strong impression that many South Carolinians are tired of their former governor, who so famously snuck off to Argentina for some extramarital recreation …

Cancer clinics are turning away thousands of Medicare patients.  Blame the sequester.  —  Ralph V. Boccia of the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders runs a cancer clinic that is in danger of losing funding due to the sequester cuts.  (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)