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 …

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: 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 …

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 …

U.S. Tells Russia It Won't Torture or Kill Snowden  —  WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a letter sent to the Russian minister of justice this week that the United States would not seek the death penalty against Edward J. Snowden, and would issue him a passport immediately …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Halliburton Pleads Guilty to Destroying Evidence After Gulf Spill  —  HOUSTON — Halliburton has agreed to plead guilty to destruction of critical evidence after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010, the Justice Department announced on Thursday.  —  The oil services company said it would pay …

Silicon Valley steps up role in immigration debate  —  Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg - one of the world's richest tech innovators - will break new ground next month by speaking publicly for the first time on a political issue when he delivers an address on immigration reform in San Francisco …

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 …

IRS employee union: We don't want Obamacare  —  IRS employees have a prominent role in Obamacare, but their union wants no part of the law.  —  National Taxpayer Employee Union officials are urging members to write their congressional representatives in opposition to receiving coverage through President Obama's health care law.

Roberts's Picks Reshaping Secret Surveillance Court  —  WASHINGTON — The recent leaks about government spying programs have focused attention on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and its role in deciding how intrusive the government can be in the name of national security.

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 …

Larry Kramer Is Married in Hospital Ceremony  —  Larry Kramer, the award-winning playwright of “The Normal Heart” and longtime gay rights advocate, married his partner, David Webster, on Wednesday in the intensive care unit of NYU Langone Medical Center, where Mr. Kramer has been recovering from surgery for a bowel obstruction.

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.”

Come See Detroit, America's Future  —  DETROIT — I KNOW an old woman who hasn't opened her windows in a decade, afraid that what's outside will climb inside.  Inside, there is the stale odor of dead air.  —  I know another woman who called me about a corpse lying outside her window for six and a half hours.

Fortress IRS  —  Agency stonewalling could permanently harm Americans' faith in government.  —  In all the day-to-day of the IRS scandals I don't think it's been fully noticed that the overall reputation of the agency has suffered a collapse, the kind from which it can take a generation to recover fully.