War on leaks threatens your right to know: Our view … Intimidation tactic serves to hide all manner of government secrets.  —  When President Obama talked about reporters and reporting last week, he struck a conciliatory chord.  Obama said he was troubled “that leak investigations may chill …

Obama to Pick Former Bush Official to Lead F.B.I.  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama plans to nominate James B. Comey, a former hedge fund executive and a former senior Justice Department official under President George W. Bush, to replace Robert S. Mueller III as the director of the Federal Bureau …

Release Detail  —  May 30, 2013 - American Voters 4-1 Want Special Prosecutor For IRS, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; But Fixing Economy Is More Important, Voters Say 3-1  —  American voters say 76 - 17 percent, including 63 - 30 percent among Democrats, that a special prosecutor …

Threatening letters to Bloomberg test positive for ricin  —  (CNN) — Preliminary tests indicate ricin was found in letters sent this past weekend to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York deputy police commissioner Paul Browne said Wednesday.  —  Browne said the letters to Bloomberg contained …

TV Ratings: MSNBC Falls Below HLN in May, Rachel Maddow Hits Lows  —  Fox News Channel maintains a handsome lead in primetime and total day, while primetime runner-up CNN continues a healthy climb from the lows of 2012.  —  “The Rachel Maddow Show”  —  HLN's wall-to-wall coverage …

Bobby Rush rips Mark Kirk's mass gang arrests proposal as ‘elitist white boy solution’  —  Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) is highly critical of a proposal by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) for mass arrests of 18,000 Gangster Disciples, telling the Sun-Times on Wednesday that Kirk's approach is …

Sequester not biting District yet  —  In the months since the automatic federal spending cuts known as the sequester took effect, the Washington area has added 40,000 jobs.  Income-tax receipts have surged in Virginia, beating expectations.  Few government contractors have laid off workers.

The Lois Lerner state  —  It is appropriate that the worst scandal of the Obama administration— the IRS targeting of conservatives — is a scandal of administrators and bureaucrats, of otherwise faceless people endowed with immense power over their fellow citizens and running free of serious oversight from elected officials.

I was a liberal mole at Fox News: From Bill O'Reilly to Roger Ailes, here's all the inside dope  —  Inside the beast: O'Reilly hates Hannity.  Producers know what's acceptable.  Everyone fears a call from Roger Ailes  —  Excerpted from “An Atheist in the FOXhole: A Liberal's Eight-Year Odyssey Inside …

IRS's Shulman had more public White House visits than any cabinet member  —  Publicly released records show that embattled former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman visited the White House at least 157 times during the Obama administration, more recorded visits than even the most trusted members of the president's Cabinet.

Annals of the Security State: ‘Is Puerto Rico in America?’  —  Here are two more, from people willing to go on the record under their real names.  Previous entries here, here, here. … Now, from David Rivera, who runs a small business in San Diego: … No more “analysis” at the moment.

Officials: Man who knew Boston bombing suspect was unarmed when shot  —  A Chechen man who was fatally shot by an FBI agent last week during an interview about one of the Boston bombing suspects was unarmed, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.  —  An air of mystery has surrounded …

The new Anthony Weiner, same as the old  —  In the week since he took the New York City mayoral race by storm, Anthony Weiner has delighted in the media circus he singlehandedly created.  He has mixed it up with reporters and taunted longtime adversaries in the same manner that made him a liberal lightning rod in Congress.

Rob Ford video scandal: Mayor Ford said he knew where video was, sources say  —  The mayor cited “our contacts” as the source of his information, according to insiders familiar with an unusual May 17 session in his office. … Toronto Mayor Rob Ford speaks during a press conference at City Hall …

Ted Cruz opens up on immigration … What, exactly, is Ted Cruz's position on comprehensive immigration reform?  There's no doubt the outspoken and still very new Texas senator opposes the Gang of Eight proposal.  From that, some Democrats and commentators on the left have concluded that Cruz …

Obama's poll numbers hold up despite the storm of scandal  —  Obama's 7 percentage-point positive margin in Gallup is better than where he stood before the IRS scandal broke.  —  President Obama's approval ratings have increased since a trio of controversies involving his administration began dominating the news cycle.

Former Microsoft manager has big ideas about marketing retail pot  —  Former Microsoft manager Jamen Shively wants to create the first national brand of retail marijuana — and to open pot trade with Mexico.  He plans to announce that and more Thursday.  —  Former Microsoft manager Jamen Shively wants …

The Distribution of Major Tax Expenditures in the Individual Income Tax System  —  A number of exclusions, deductions, preferential rates, and credits in the federal tax system cause revenues to be much lower than they would be otherwise for any given structure of tax rates.