U.S. charges Edward Snowden with espionage in leaks about NSA surveillance programs  —  Federal prosecutors have filed a sealed criminal complaint against Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked a trove of documents about top-secret surveillance programs …

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.

Leahy: GOP Border Security Amendment ‘A Christmas Wish List For Haliburton’  —  Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said Friday that the new border security amendment added to the immigration reform bill in the Senate is nothing more than a gift to defense contractors, but the Senate Judiciary Committee …

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.

Farm Bill's Fate in House Bodes Ill for Overhaul of Immigration  —  WASHINGTON — The story of the 113th Congress was on display during a single afternoon this week.  —  On the Senate floor Thursday afternoon, Republicans and Democrats forged a hard-fought path forward on a bill to overhaul the nation's immigration system.

GCHQ taps fibre-optic cables for secret access to world's communications  —  Exclusive: British spy agency collects and stores vast quantities of global email messages, Facebook posts, internet histories and calls, and shares them with NSA, latest documents from Edward Snowden reveal

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 …

Hillary Clinton wants a female president ‘in my lifetime’  —  Hillary Clinton spoke Thursday about her “hypothetical” desire to see a woman president “in my lifetime,” the latest scrap of data fueling the will-she-run-in-2016 chatter about the former senator and secretary of state.

Rep. Louie Gohmert Has Some Feelings About the Farm Bill, America  —  On Thursday afternoon, Rep. Louie Gohmert gave a long, rambling floor speech.  This isn't the most unusual thing to see happen on the House floor on a Thursday afternoon, but Gohmert really made this 30-minutes count:

Here Is the Archive of the Famous Liberal Media ‘Journolist’  —  Way back in 2009, the hottest media story was the exposure of the existence of “Journolist,” a private listserv of several hundred mostly liberal journalists, talking to each other about crap.  This was perceived as a big scandal!

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.”

President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts  —  WASHINGTON, DC - Today, President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts:  — Denise Bauer - Ambassador to Belgium, Department of State  — John Berry - Ambassador to Australia, Department of State

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 …

What's Taking the Supreme Court So Long?  —  The biggest cases are still to come—and we should be celebrating this drawn-out finale, writes Richard L. Hasen, in defense of the court's end-of-term crunch.  —  With everyone anxiously awaiting potentially blockbuster decisions on issues …

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?