Why I secretly recorded Mitch McConnell  —  Earlier this year, I secretly made an audio recording of Sen. Mitch McConnell, the most powerful Republican on the planet, at his campaign headquarters in Kentucky.  The released portion of the recording clocks in at less than 12 minutes, but those few minutes changed my life.

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.

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)

Tea party speaker presents proof Grover Norquist is a secret Muslim: ‘He has a beard’  —  A speaker at a tea party event in Texas recently suggested that that anti-tax lobbyist Grover Norquist was a secret Muslim because “he has a beard.”  —  In a video posted by the Far North Dallas Tea Party on Thursday …

Pro-immigrant groups balk at Gang of Eight's goal of winning 70 votes  —  Pro-immigrant advocates are pushing back against the Gang of Eight's strategy to win 70 votes or more for comprehensive immigration reform, fearing it would require too many concessions to Republicans.

Attorney General Holder says he'll protect journalists' rights  —  Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. pledged Thursday to take concrete steps to address concerns that the Justice Department has overreached in its leak investigations and said officials would seek procedural and possibly legislative changes …

No same-sex marriage vote until November: 'I've never been sadder,' sponsor says  —  SPRINGFIELD — Gay and lesbian couples who want to legally marry in Illinois willl have to wait.  —  His voice breaking with emotion, state Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) tearfully said he will not call …

Why the Boomers Are the Most Hated Generation  —  F. Scott Fitzgerald's flappers also grew up in a time of plenty, but they were allowed to age out of their sybaritic image.  What makes the Boomers different?  —  Pity the baby boomers, blamed in their youth for every ill and excess …

The drawdown diet: Marines steamed by loss of hot meal at Afghanistan base  —  Marines at Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan will lose a key daily meal starting Saturday, causing some to forgo a hot breakfast and others to work six-plus hours without refueling on cooked food, according to Marines at the base and Marine Corps officials.

Republican Congressman Says McCain Was Partly Responsible For The Benghazi Terror Attacks  —  Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) accused Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on Wednesday of being complicit in the terror attacks on the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya last year and the deaths of four Americans …

Judge orders Google to comply with FBI's secret NSL demands  —  A federal judge tells the company to comply with the FBI's warrantless National Security Letter requests for user details, despite ongoing concerns about their constitutionality.  —  A federal judge has ruled that Google must comply …

It's 2013, and People Are Still Getting Worked Up About Interracial Couples in Ads Cheerios spot gets cheers and jeers By Tim Nudd  —  It's another one of those things that shouldn't be a story but is—an ad from a major U.S. brand featuring an interracial couple and their daughter.

More trouble for the IRS  —  The new acting IRS chief acknowledged Friday that an upcoming audit would find improper spending at an agency conference, opening up a new trouble spot for an agency already embattled over its treatment of Tea Party groups.  —  Danny Werfel, the acting commissioner …

Social Security  —  The Official Website of the U.S. Social Security Administration  —  Status Of The Social Security And Medicare Programs  —  A SUMMARY OF THE 2013 ANNUAL REPORTS  —  Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees  —  A MESSAGE TO THE PUBLIC:

Donors to GOP Group Drew IRS Scrutiny  —  At the same time the Internal Revenue Service was targeting tea-party groups, the tax agency took the unusual step of trying to impose gift taxes on donors to a prominent conservative advocacy group formed in 2007 to build support for President George W. Bush's Iraq troop surge.

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.

Retired Justice warns against ‘politicians in robes’ … Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor made a plea for preserving the impartiality and independence of the American judicial system in a lecture Thursday at Elmhurst College.  —  O'Connor, who addressed a crowded audience …

Another Obamacare Train Wreck Not Happening  —  Federal exchanges look like they'll have plenty of insurance options  —  One of these days, a dire prediction about Obamacare will come true.  Today isn't it.  —  The Administration on Thursday released new information about the “Federally Facilitated Marketplaces.”

Obama's Data Team Totally Schooled Gallup  —  In the new issue of Bloomberg Businessweek, I have a short feature about how Google's (GOOG) executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, is investing millions in a new company with Dan Wagner and two dozen other veterans of the Obama campaign's data analytics team.

Obama administration to blame for jailing of hero Bin Laden doctor, says Pakistani report  —  It was the Obama administration that sealed the fate of the Pakistani doctor jailed for helping nail Usama Bin Laden, by divulging key details after the fact and dooming any chance Shakil Afridi's cover story …