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 …

Is Michael Bloomberg Using City Resources For His “Mayors Against Illegal Guns” Group?  —  I really hate doing the question headline, but this definitely needs answering.  I started poking around last night.  —  At first I pinged mayorsagainstillegalguns.org and found that it was resolving at a New York City government IP address.

New pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC attracts donors and worries  —  The campaign has a flashy Web site and official logo T-shirts and signs.  Prominent Democrats have endorsed it and written $25,000 checks.  Its paid operatives and volunteers have set up shop in an Alexandria strip mall office …

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.

Food Network Drops Paula Deen  —  Paula Deen, the self-proclaimed queen of Southern cooking and a sugary mainstay of the Food Network, was dropped by the network on Friday, following a bewildering day in which she failed to show up for an interview on the “Today” show and then in two online videos begged …

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

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:

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

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 …

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 …

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

Preemptive Strike: Conservatives Vow To Defy Supreme Court If It Rules For Marriage Equality  —  George Wallace defied a federal court order to integrate the University of Alabama in 1963  —  Drawing what they called a line “we cannot and will not cross,” more than 200 conservative activists released …

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.”

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 …