Inside the border deal that almost failed  —  Sen. Chuck Schumer spent Tuesday privately urging President Barack Obama and the entire Democratic caucus to just be patient — a border security deal they could accept was still within reach.  —  But after a testy, 45-minute call that night …

The top 9,486 ways Jay Carney won't answer your questions (interactive)  —  Jay Carney doesn't have an answer for that.  He hasn't discussed that subject with the president.  He will refer you to the Department of [insert agency here].  He refuses to speculate on that.  He'll have to get back to you.

Source: Arrest Warrant Issued For Aaron Hernandez  —  BOSTON (CBS) - Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez will be charged in connection with the shooting death of a 27-year-old Dorchester man, a law enforcement source told WBZ NewsRadio 1030 on Friday.  —  According to that source …

The dysfunctional House  —  Someone in House leadership screwed up again.  —  The defeat of the farm bill — after both parties were privately bullish it would pass with large margins — shows, once again, how massively dysfunctional the House and its leadership has become.

FAA to Relax Rules for Gadgets in Flight  —  Airline passengers irritated at having to turn off their devices could soon see some reprieve, with regulators set to allow wider use of gadgets in flight.  —  The Federal Aviation Administration is expected to relax the ban on using some types …

Revealed: top secret rules that allow NSA to use US data without a warrant  —  Fisa court submissions show broad scope of procedures governing NSA's surveillance of Americans' communication  —  • Document one: procedures used by NSA to target non-US persons

McConnell: Obama administration marked by ‘culture of intimidation’  —  (CNN) - The Obama administration is eager to defend progressive efforts to dismantle conservative causes, and it stands ready to “shut up anybody who challenges it,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Friday in a hard-hitting speech.

We were wrong  —  On Wednesday morning Kickstarter was sent a blog post quoting disturbing material found on Reddit.  The offensive material was part of a draft for a “seduction guide” that someone was using Kickstarter to publish.  The posts offended a lot of people — us included — and many asked us to cancel the creator's project.

Exclusive: NSA contractor hired Snowden despite concerns about resume discrepancies  —  (Reuters) - Hiring screeners at Booz Allen Hamilton, a contractor for the National Security Agency, found possible discrepancies in a resume submitted by Edward Snowden, but the company still employed him …

The Last Mystery of the Financial Crisis  —  It's long been suspected that ratings agencies like Moody's and Standard & Poor's helped trigger the meltdown.  A new trove of embarrassing documents shows how they did it  —  By  —  W  —  hat about the ratings agencies?

Obama hits a wall in Berlin  —  The question of whether Barack Obama's second term will be a failure was answered in the affirmative before his Berlin debacle, which has recast the question, which now is: Will this term be silly, even scary in its detachment from reality?

Russ Tice, Bush-Era Whistleblower, Claims NSA Ordered Wiretap Of Barack Obama In 2004  —  Russ Tice, a former intelligence analyst who in 2005 blew the whistle on what he alleged was massive unconstitutional domestic spying across multiple agencies, claimed Wednesday that the NSA had ordered wiretaps …

Hundreds Of Texans Stand Up Against Sweeping Anti-Abortion Bill, Block It From Coming To A Vote  —  Protesters projected “End the War on Women” onto the building where the hearing on SB 5 was held.  (Credit: @TaneneAllison)  —  Texas lawmakers are currently rushing an omnibus anti-abortion bill through …

Gov. Cuomo was death ray target of Ku Klux Klansman  —  Nutty Glen Crawford, an industrial mechanic at General Electric, and Hudson man Eric Feight have been accused of building a deadly radiation-emitting device, which Crawford planned to use it on Gov. Cuomo, sources say.

This is why global markets are freaking out  —  Around the world, markets were frazzled by the latest out of the Fed.  (Kin Cheung/AP)  —  A wave of selling washed across the financial world Thursday, driving the stock market down, interest rates up, and bringing new tremors of concern …

Democrats Advantage Over Republican Rival Gomez is Even Greater Among Women Voters  —  Detailed poll results and analysis are available at www.bostonherald.com and www.uml.edu/polls.  —  UMass Lowell representatives are available for interviews about today's poll.

Profits Without Production  —  One lesson from recent economic troubles has been the usefulness of history.  Just as the crisis was unfolding, the Harvard economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff — who unfortunately became famous for their worst work — published a brilliant book with the sarcastic title “This Time Is Different.”

Obama's crackdown views leaks as aiding enemies of U.S.  —  WASHINGTON — Even before a former U.S. intelligence contractor exposed the secret collection of Americans' phone records, the Obama administration was pressing a government-wide crackdown on security threats that requires federal employees …

WikiLeaks says Michael Hastings contacted it just before his death.  Are they implying he was murdered?  —  WikiLeaks just threw some gasoline onto the conspiracy fire.  On Wednesday night, they Tweeted: “Michael Hastings contacted WikiLeaks lawyer Jennifer Robinson just a few hours before he died …

FEDERAL NULLIFICATION EFFORTS MOUNTING IN STATES … JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Imagine the scenario: A federal agent attempts to arrest someone for illegally selling a machine gun.  Instead, the federal agent is arrested - charged in a state court with the crime of enforcing federal gun laws.