Veterans poll: 91 percent back gun checks  —  The vast majority of veterans support universal background checks, a new poll shows.  —  According to a survey commissioned by the organization Vote Vets and the liberal Center for American Progress Action Fund, 91 percent of veterans support requiring …

Top Republican Blasts Obama Budget As ‘Shocking Attack On Seniors’  —  Remember those warnings about how instead of welcoming President Obama's adoption of Chained CPI, Republicans would continue to deny him a budget deal and attack him for proposing to cut Social Security?

Gun control, immigration and budget talks: Is there a thaw in Washington?  —  For the first time in a while, members of the two parties — at least some of them — appear to be talking about getting things done, even without the deadline of a manufactured crisis looming.

90% Bull  —  Fig leaves wilting!  It looks like the requirement that the Border Patrol catch 90% of illegal crossers-reported by the WSJ and touted by both Marco Rubio's chief of staff and my colleague Matt Lewis as an example of the “ tough border enforcement measures” …

Daughter of former Obama pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright indicted … The daughter of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright — the controversial former pastor to President Barack Obama — was indicted today in an expanding federal probe of a state grant tied to a former suburban police chief.

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg: Immigration and the knowledge economy  —  Mark Zuckerberg is founder and chief executive of Facebook and co-founder of Fwd.us.  —  Earlier this year I started teaching a class on entrepreneurship at an after-school program in my community.

Ben Carson steps down as Hopkins commencement speaker … Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson stepped down Wednesday as commencement speaker at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine after complaints from students about controversial comments concerning same-sex marriage.

Philadelphia abortion clinic horror: Column  —  We've forgotten what belongs on Page One.  —  Infant beheadings.  Severed baby feet in jars.  A child screaming after it was delivered alive during an abortion procedure.  Haven't heard about these sickening accusations?  —  It's not your fault.

Immigration, gun deals make Tea Party lawmakers restless  —  House conservatives are growing restless.  —  With bipartisan deals emerging on guns and immigration, Tea Party lawmakers in the lower chamber are warning their leaders to slow down.  —  Longtime immigration reform critic Rep. Steve King …

Exclusive: Blair warns Miliband: offer answers, not outrage  —  The former prime minister says Labour must be more than “fellow travellers in sympathy” and warns it not to “tack left on tax and spending”.  —  In his statement on Margaret Thatcher's death earlier this week …

Israel Detains Five Women For Wearing Prayer Shawls At Western Wall  —  JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police on Thursday detained five women at a Jerusalem holy site for performing religious rituals there that ultra-Orthodox Jews say are reserved for men.  —  The detentions come …

Gun Shop Where Lanza's Mother Bought Bushmaster Shut Down For Selling To A Felon, Background Check Violations  —  EAST WINDSOR, Conn. (AP) — Federal authorities say a Connecticut gun shop that legally sold weapons used in the Newtown school shootings lost its federal firearms license …

Mark Pryor rakes in cash in first quarter  —  Endangered Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) raised nearly $2 million in the first quarter of this year, a financial show of strength his campaign hopes sends a message to state and national Republicans still looking for a candidate to take him on next year.

Britain snubs Argentina's Fernandez over Thatcher funeral  —  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will not invite Argentine President Cristina Fernandez to Margaret Thatcher's funeral next week in a snub likely to deepen a long-running diplomatic dispute over the Falkland Islands.

David Corn and Mother Jones find themselves with another audio scoop  —  David Corn says one good scoop may have led to another.  And might even lead to still others, too.  —  The Mother Jones magazine reporter and MSNBC pundit was busy Wednesday handling the fallout from, and some fawning over …

Haley Barbour Leaves American Crossroads Amid Concerns Over Conservative Victory Project  —  The powerful fundraising team that American Crossroads deployed in 2012 to pull in more than $300 million has lost ace fundraiser Haley Barbour, according to three GOP operatives close to the super PAC.

Democrats pressing federal regulators for documents related to shoddy foreclosures  —  Two congressional Democrats are pressing federal regulators to reconsider their decision to withhold documents related shoddy foreclosures.  —  Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.) …