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 …

White House doesn't have ‘figure on costs’ of Africa trip  —  President Barack Obama makes the first extended trip to Africa of his presidency next week—but he won't be stopping in the country of his birth.  —  Obama's weeklong trip—June 26-July 3—which he's taking with his wife, Michelle …

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 …

House Republicans Hate Poor Too Much to End Farm Socialism  —  The world's saddest insane asylum manager.  —  The right-wing critique of Big Government — bloated, wasteful spending with no real purpose that imposes huge costs on the market — is basically wrong, but there's one major piece …

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 …

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.

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:

President Bullard's Comments on Recent FOMC Actions  —  ST. LOUIS - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard dissented with the Federal Open Market Committee decision announced on June 19, 2013.  In his view, the Committee should have more strongly signaled its willingness …

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

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

Netroots Nation: First Impressions  —  SAN JOSE, Calif.—The main ballroom of the convention hall was about half-full.  The big “draw” for the first night's keynote speech was Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, who's beloved on the left for trying to reform the filibuster.  But he's not exactly a major newsmaker.

Mormon Mom Who Fought for Prop 8, Now Fights for Gay Son  —  Wendy and Tom Montgomery are devout Mormons from California who pounded on doors in 2008 to support the passage of Proposition 8, the state referendum that overturned the ruling that allowed same-sex couples to marry in California, and is now before the U.S. Supreme Court.

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 …

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 …