“What Part of ‘Politico’ Do You Not Understand?”  —  A conversation about the dark art of driving the conversation  —  The dominant mode of Washington journalism tends to both reflect and entrench the values of its era.  The eminent writers and editors of the immediate postwar age …

McConnell To Reid: If You Go Nuclear On Nominations, I'll Go Nuclear On Everything When I'm Majority Leader  —  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Tuesday starkly warned Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) not to eliminate the filibuster on presidential nominations …

Breaking: Full House committee transcripts shed new light on genesis of IRS targeting  —  Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have just released a full transcript of testimony from a key witness in the investigation of IRS targeting of conservatives — and it appears to confirm …

John Boehner is bluffing  —  The House Speaker, in a private meeting with House conservatives this morning, made a big show of talking tough on immigration reform, claiming he has “no intention” of allowing a House vote on anything that doesn't have the support of a majority of Republicans:

Texas Congressman: Masturbating Fetuses Prove Need for Abortion Ban  —  As the House of Representatives gears up for Tuesday's debate on HR 1797, a bill that would outlaw virtually all abortions 20 weeks post fertilization, Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) argued in favor of banning abortions …

Google challenges U.S. gag order, citing First Amendment  —  Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government.

CNN Poll: Did White House order IRS targeting?  —  Washington (CNN) - A growing number of Americans believe that senior White House officials ordered the Internal Revenue Service to target conservative political groups, according to a new national poll.  —  And a CNN/ORC International survey …

GOP needs action, not navel-gazing  —  We've had enough.  Yes, we just lost our second straight presidential election to Barack Obama.  Yes, losing is painful and has consequences.  Yes, when you lose, you make adjustments.  Enough already.  Let's get on with it.  —  Yes, we have plenty of changes to make.

Federal Budget Cuts Blamed for Girl's Rape, Mother's Murder  —  At least one probation officer has been fired and another demoted in the horrifying New York case of a federal child pornography suspect who raped a 10-year-old and murdered the girl's mother while the suspect was under court-ordered supervision.

Senate Intel Committee Blocks Former Staffer From Talking To Press About Oversight Process  —  The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has taken the unusual step of actively blocking a former committee aide from talking to TPM about congressional oversight of the intelligence community.

Distribute this video:  —  Yes, Father's Day.  —  Charlie that was really something based upon these photographs:  —  And this speech:  —  “I want to be a better father, a better husband, a better man.  But I will tell you this: Everything else is unfulfilled if we fail at family, if we fail at that responsibility.

Senate rejects border fence  —  Senators on Tuesday rejected building the 700 miles of double-tier border fencing Congress authorized just seven years ago, with a majority of the Senate saying they didn't want to delay granting illegal immigrants legal status while the fence was being built.

Gen. Helms and the Senator's ‘Hold’  —  An Air Force commander exercised her discretion in a sexual-assault case.  Now her career is being blocked by Sen. Claire McCaskill.  Why?  —  Lt. Gen. Susan Helms is a pioneering woman who finds her career stalled because of a war on men …

EXCLUSIVE: Hidden camera catches wireless company employees passing out ‘Obama phones’ to people who say they'll SELL them for drugs, shoes, handbags and spending cash  — The ‘Lifeline’ free-cell-phone scheme cost $2.2 BILLION last year alone, all of it from fees added to the phone bills of paying customers

3 Former NSA Employees Praise Edward Snowden, Corroborate Key Claims  —  The men, all whistleblowers, say he succeeded where they failed.  —  USA Today has published an extraordinary interview with three former NSA employees who praise Edward Snowden's leaks, corroborate some of his claims, and warn about unlawful government acts.

Photographer sues BuzzFeed for $3.6M over viral sharing model  —  A photographer says BuzzFeed should pay copyright damages not only for an unauthorized photo that appeared on its site — but for the dozens of other sites on which the photo appeared.  —  An Idaho photographer, Kai Eiselein …

Pentagon Shoots Down Kerry's Syria Airstrike Plan  —  Twenty years ago, in a debate over the war in Bosnia, Madeleine Albright, then the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, issued a challenge to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Colin Powell.