Holder runs into roadblocks on off-the-record meetings on leaks  —  Washington (CNN) - Attorney General Eric Holder's plans to sit down with media representatives to discuss guidelines for handling investigations into leaks to the news media have run into trouble.

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 …

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 …

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.

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.

Lincoln Chafee switches affiliation to Democrat  —  Obama has returned the favor: he declined to endorse a Democrat for governor in 2010, when Chafee was running as an independent in a three-way race.  And when Chafee ran TV ads featuring archival footage of the president praising him, Obama and his aides did not object.

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.

Assad Says Syria Has Received Advanced Missiles From Russia  —  BEIRUT, Lebanon — President Bashar al-Assad of Syria said in a television interview to be broadcast on Thursday that Russia has delivered S-30 air defense missiles to his country, weapons that Israel has said present a threat …

McCain Wasn't Posing With Rebel Kidnapper, Spokesman Says  —  “Regrettable” if true, McCain spokesman says.  —  Via: Handout/Reuter / Reuters  —  WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain's office is pushing back against reports that while visiting Syria this week he posed in a photo with rebels who kidnapped 11 Lebanese Shi'ite pilgrims.

Salvadoran Court Denies Abortion to Ailing Woman  —  MEXICO CITY — El Salvador's highest court on Wednesday denied an appeal from a woman with a high-risk pregnancy to be allowed to undergo an abortion, upholding the country's strict law banning abortion under any circumstances.

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 …

Conservative Icon Calls GOP's Need To Court Hispanics A ‘Great Myth’  —  Phyllis Schlafly of the pro-family group Eagle Forum called the GOP's need to reach out to Hispanic voters a “great myth” during a conservative radio program Wednesday.  —  “The Hispanics who have come …

Tea Partying Strip Club Mogul: The IRS Targeted Me, Too  —  Meet Selim “Sam” Zherka.  New York City strip club proprietor.  Westchester county newspaper owner.  And the self-described “loudest voice” for the Tea Party in New York state.  —  In the weeks since the revelation …

First quarter GDP revised slightly lower; austerity bites  —  (Reuters) - A drop in government spending dragged more on the U.S. economy than initially thought in the first three months of the year, a sign of increasing pain from Washington's austerity drive.

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 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.