Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily  —  Exclusive: Top secret court order requiring Verizon to hand over all call data shows scale of domestic surveillance under Obama  —  • Read the Verizon court order in full here  —  • Obama administration justifies surveillance

Could Rice's appointment signal a more activist U.S. foreign policy?  —  PRESIDENTS AND not their aides are responsible for setting the course of U.S. foreign policy, and in the case of President Obama, that has been true arguably to a fault.  —  It was Mr. Obama who insisted …

Manhunt over, Deval Patrick tied one on  —  Candid gov discusses attacks  —  By:  —  Gov. Deval Patrick gave a candid, behind-the-scenes look at the horrific days after the Boston Marathon bombings, telling employees at a Cambridge marketing firm yesterday he got “quite drunk” the day after the intense manhunt finally ended.

GOP to Darrell Issa: Cool it  —  Shortly after Darrell Issa dubbed Jay Carney a “paid liar” on CNN last Sunday, House Republican leadership staffers called the California Republican's aides with a message: Cool it.  —  Issa's aides promptly responded: The remark was over the top, they agreed …

IRS Staff Cite Washington Link  —  Two Workers Tell Congress That Agency Officials Helped Direct Tea-Party Reviews  —  Two Internal Revenue Service employees in the agency's Cincinnati office told congressional investigators that IRS officials in Washington helped direct the probe of tea-party groups that began in 2010.

Virginia candidate E.W. Jackson: Yoga leads to Satan  —  E.W. Jackson, the Virginia GOP candidate for lieutenant governor, suggested that yoga could open individuals to Satan, according to a report.  —  Accompanying a profile of Jackson, who has been a thorn in the side …

Health care law's unpopularity reaches new highs  —  President Barack Obama's signature health care reform law remains unpopular with the American public just months before it fully goes into effect, according to the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.  —  The poll shows 49 percent …

Gay Marriage Gains Ground in Poll as Court Readies Ruling  —  More than half of Americans support allowing same-sex couples to marry, endorsing the goal of gay-rights activists as the U.S. Supreme Court this month prepares to rule on the issue for the first time.

Mass. pair sues New York Post over Marathon bombing portrayal  —  A Massachusetts teenager and his 24-year-old friend filed a defamation lawsuit against the New York Post Wednesday in Boston, accusing the tabloid of falsely portraying them as suspects in the deadly Marathon bombings by plastering …

Kerry to U.S. Jews: Next few days will determine Middle East fate for decades  —  Those who believe the Israeli-Palestinian status quo is sustainable and that the separation fence will bring security to Israel are ‘lulling themselves into a delusion,’ U.S. secretary of state tells American Jewish Committee.

Jeremy Epstein Is Still Looking For A Job  —  The college student was thrust into the spotlight when he asked Obama and Romney about finding a job after graduation at the October town hall debate.  —  Via: David Goldman / AP  —  “Every now and then someone stops me on the street and says …

It's Time to Hit the Reset Button on the Fiscal Debate  —  Endnotes and citations are available in the PDF version of this report.  —  The federal budget has dominated the policy and political debate in Washington over the past three years.  During this time, both the underlying fiscal landscape …