Chris Christie: Rand Paul ‘dangerous’  —  New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is ripping libertarians - including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). - for challenging government surveillance programs and failing to understand the dangers of terrorism.  —  “This strain of libertarianism that's …

Fiscal Armageddon could remake Hill in 2014 elections  —  Not again.  —  That's the message several national GOP strategists and some lawmakers have for Republicans hell bent on waging another fiscal fight this fall.  —  The 2014 midterm season is about to heat up - and President Barack Obama …

EXCLUSIVE: Sydney Leathers Details Being At Center Of Anthony Weiner Sexting Scandal  —  We're hearing for the first time from the young woman at the center of the Anthony Weiner sexting scandal.  —  Twenty-three-year-old Sydney Leathers spoke exclusively to INSIDE EDITION about the raunchy text messages …

EXCLUSIVE: Fed-up Silda Spitzer plans to divorce Eliot after election  —  Silda Spitzer is privately telling friends she plans to divorce her hooker-loving husband, Eliot Spitzer, Page Six can exclusively reveal.  —  Multiple sources tell us long-suffering Silda — who, he last night admitted …

Senator Calls For Further Investigation Into Huma's Money  —  Huma Abedin, the wife of New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner, AKA Carlos Danger, is facing an ongoing Senate investigation into the consulting fees she earned while also working as a State Department employee for then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Mother of slain Benghazi victim Sean Smith: ‘My son is dead.  How could that be phony?’  —  The mother of a Benghazi victim is furious about the new White House strategy of calling the terrorist attack and many other scandals plaguing the Obama administration “fake” or “phony.”

Feds tell Web firms to turn over user account passwords  —  Secret demands mark escalation in Internet surveillance by the federal government through gaining access to user passwords, which are typically stored in encrypted form.  —  The U.S. government has demanded that major Internet …

Four More Women Accuse Filner … Four prominent San Diego women came forth today accusing Mayor Bob Filner of unwanted sexual advances.  They related specific incidents in an exclusive interview with KPBS News.  —  The latest accusers —a retired Navy rear-admiral, a dean at San Diego State University …

Lincoln Memorial vandalized with splashes of green paint  —  The Lincoln Memorial was shut down Friday morning after vandals splashed the statue of the nation's 16th president and the marble floor around it with green paint, U.S. Park Police said.  —  Police are reviewing surveillance footage …

Republican Health Care Panic  —  Leading Republicans appear to be nerving themselves up for another round of attempted fiscal blackmail.  With the end of the fiscal year looming, they aren't offering the kinds of compromises that might produce a deal and avoid a government shutdown; instead …

Rep. Sensenbrenner: DOJ is legally justified in going after Texas  —  The Obama administration has every right to challenge Texas' unilateral adoption of new voting laws, a top Republican argued Thursday.  —  Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) said the Voting Rights Act authorizes …

Cover Story: John Cuneo's “Carlos Danger”  —  “With a topic like Anthony Weiner, how can you find anything broad or funny that he hasn't already personally breached?” says John Cuneo, the artist who painted next week's cover.  He continues: “Free association made me think of the Empire State Building …

Student Drought Hits Smaller Universities  —  By - CAMERON MCWHIRTER and - DOUGLAS BELKIN -  —  Loyola University New Orleans faces a $9.5 million budget gap caused by 25% fewer freshmen this fall than it had expected.  —  As Loyola University New Orleans gears up for fall classes next month …

CBO: Sequester cuts would cost up to 1.6M jobs through 2014  —  The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office on Thursday estimated that keeping the spending cuts from sequestration in place through fiscal 2014 would cost up to 1.6 million jobs.  —  Canceling the cuts, on the other hand …

How Not to Correct the Record - TNR Edition  —  Earlier this month, The New Republic posted an article by Stanford law professor Richard Thompson Ford on the Zimmerman trial.  As noted by my co-blogger David Bernstein and Michelle Meyer at The Faculty Lounge, this article included some factual inaccuracies.

George Zimmerman Juror Says He ‘Got Away With Murder’  —  The only minority on the all-female jury that voted to acquit George Zimmerman said today that Zimmerman “got away with murder” for killing Trayvon Martin and feels she owes an apology Martin's parents.

An Obama-McCain Alliance: Two Bitter Rivals Team Up To Upend The Status Quo  —  The unlikeliest of alliances forged between two once-bitter rivals stands to upend the status quo of congressional gridlock and potentially resolve a bitter partisan chasm that has characterized the modern era of crisis governance.

Caroline Kennedy nomination as envoy to Japan points to larger trend  —  President Obama's ambassador nominations have been political more often than not in this term, outpacing other recent administrations.  Some criticize the trend, which continues with Caroline Kennedy.