Eric Holder to media: I get it  —  Attorney General Eric Holder expressed concern on Thursday about how the Department of Justice has handled recent media investigations at an off-the-record meeting with leading representatives of the press, according to those who were present.

With Bachmann not running, Jim Graves pulls out of 6th District race  —  As of today, Jim Graves is going to indefinitely suspend his campaign for Congress from the 6th District.  —  Translation: He is not running.  He is dropping out of politics to concentrate on his family and his business.

IRS may have targeted conservatives more broadly  —  Susan Martinek, right, and Mary Cherion pray as they walk the block around the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Planned Parenthood, on Wednesday, May 29, 2013.  Martinek is the president and Cherion serves on the board of Coalition for Life of Iowa …

From the Mouths of Babes  —  Like many observers, I usually read reports about political goings-on with a sort of weary cynicism.  Every once in a while, however, politicians do something so wrong, substantively and morally, that cynicism just won't cut it; it's time to get really angry instead.

Poll: Hillary Clinton's favorability rating dives amid Benghazi probe  —  Hillary Clinton's favorability rating dropped significantly in a Quinnipiac University poll released Friday, as the months-long investigation into the terrorist attacks in Benghazi have begun to drag on the former secretary of State.

‘Rogue’ IRS agent who wrote threatening letters gets promotion … President Obama may have promised “to hold the responsible parties accountable” for the Internal Revenue Service targeting of conservative non-profit groups, but one of the agents at the center of the scandal was recently promoted …

G.O.P. Sizes Up Obama as Midterm Target  —  WASHINGTON — His name won't be on any ballot in 2014.  Or ever again, for that matter.  —  But plenty of Republicans are still eager to wage a midterm campaign against President Obama, convinced that the spate of recent troubles dogging …

Romney Planning to Rejoin National Dialogue  —  Months After Election Loss, He Will Host Event in Utah for 200 Friends and Campaign Supporters  —  More than half a year after his election loss, Mitt Romney is putting a tentative foot back onto the public stage.

Rising economy shifts 2014 landscape  —  The 2014 midterm election is shaping up as something the United States has not seen in nearly a decade: a campaign run in a strengthening economy with deficits on the decline.  —  No one is popping champagne corks yet, and risks remain.

Cowboy-style cap gun gets 5-year-old suspended from school in Calvert County  —  A kindergartner who brought a cowboy-style cap gun onto his Calvert County school bus was suspended for 10 days after showing a friend the orange-tipped toy, which he had tucked inside his backpack on his way to school, according to his family and a lawyer.

The Fake Story About the IRS Commissioner and the White House  —  White House records show Douglas Shulman signed in for 11 visits, not 157, between 2009 and 2012.  —  This building is technically the White House, too.  It's called the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.  (Whitehouse.gov)

Watch the Men of Fox News Freak Out Over Female Breadwinners  —  Most of the time, conservatives pooh-pooh the pay gap as a result of women's “choice” to work less and attend to the home more.  They're not against equality, they assure us, but equality just naturally fails on its own because women make it so!

Americans Oppose U.S. Military Involvement in Syria  —  Publlic does not expect diplomatic efforts to succeed in ending civil war  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Sixty-eight percent of Americans say the United States should not use military action in Syria to attempt to end the civil war there if diplomatic …

WWII Drug: The German Granddaddy of Crystal Meth  —  Crystal meth is notorious for being highly addictive and ravaging countless communities.  But few know that the drug can be traced back to Nazi Germany, where it first became popular as a way to keep pilots and soldiers alert in battle during World War II.

Obama's Student-Loan Props  —  The President picks a phony fight over negligible differences.  —  President Obama's 2014 budget calls on Congress to prevent a doubling of interest rates on student loans and make the rates “more market-based.”  Last week House Republicans and four Democrats voted …

Rifle March On D.C. Cancelled  —  Gun-rights activist Adam Kokesh, who had planned to get thousands of protestors to march from Virginia into the D.C. on the Fourth of July with loaded rifles on their backs, has just cancelled the rally, he said earlier this week on “The Pete Santilli Show.”  —  The.

UNREAL... Illegal Immigrant Mother of Seven Given Food Stamps, Meds, Housing, and Social Security - For 20 Years (Video)  —  It's Cloward-Piven on steroids.  —  Illegal immigrant and mother of seven, Marita Nelson, receives $240 in food stamps, monthly medications, $700 in Social Security and a housing allowance.

DOJ: Social Media Posts Trashing Muslims May Violate Civil Rights  —  In its latest effort to protect followers of Islam in the U.S. the Obama Justice Department warns against using social media to spread information considered inflammatory against Muslims, threatening that it could constitute a violation of civil rights.

McCain: ‘Regrettable’ if photo was taken with Syrian rebel kidnappers  —  A spokesman for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Thursday that it would be “regrettable” if the lawmaker had posed for a photograph with Syrian rebels involved in kidnapping Lebanese Shiite pilgrims.

SAN FRANCISCO — Companies from Silicon Valley to Detroit to Germany are developing cars that park, steer and even drive themselves.  Now the federal agency for traffic safety has said it wants to come along for the ride.  —  On Thursday, the Transportation Department made its first formal policy statement on autonomous vehicles.

George W. Bush Bikes With Injured Vets, Reflects On White House Decisions, Life After The Presidency  —  CRAWFORD, Texas — George W. Bush had been riding his mountain bike for almost four hours, and he was out of gas.  —  I was 12 riders behind the former president as we cycled, single file …

Record unemployment, low inflation underline Europe's pain  —  (Reuters) - Unemployment has reached a new high in the euro zone and inflation remains well below the European Central Bank's target, stepping up pressure on EU leaders and the ECB for action to revive the bloc's sickly economy.

Americans have rebuilt less than half of wealth lost to the recession, study says  —  American households have rebuilt less than half of the wealth lost during the recession, leaving them without the spending power to fuel a robust economic recovery, according to a new analysis from the Federal Reserve.