Top Weiner Aide Trashes Intern Who Wrote Campaign Tell-All  —  Tuesday was an angry day in Weinerland.  —  The campaign staff awoke to see their former intern, Olivia Nuzzi, on the front cover of the Daily News.  Inside the paper was an article bylined by Nuzzi in which she told …

XKeyscore: NSA tool collects ‘nearly everything a user does on the internet’  —  • XKeyscore gives ‘widest-reaching’ collection of online data  —  • NSA analysts require no prior authorization for searches  —  • Sweeps up emails, social media activity and browsing history

John McCain, Undecided 2016 Voter  —  Interview: McCain on Fox News Schizophrenia, Tea Party Nihilism, and Choosing Between Hillary Clinton and Rand Paul in 2016  —  It has been difficult to follow politics over the past several months without sensing the presence of a new John McCain.  (Again.)

Obama's ‘Grand Bargain’ Tax Plan Is Hard Sell to GOP  —  Lawmakers regarded President Barack Obama's latest attempt to engage them on an economic proposal as largely irrelevant Tuesday, with neither Democrats nor Republicans viewing it as an actual step forward toward breaking their ongoing budget impasse.

Ted Cruz taunts fellow Republicans in Obamacare fight  —  Ted Cruz is taking his hardball tactics to a whole new level.  —  The Texas freshman senator and his senior aides are unleashing a barrage of attacks on their fellow Republicans for refusing to support their plan to choke off Obamacare as a condition for funding the government.

National Income and Product Accounts  —  Gross Domestic Product, second quarter 2013 (advance estimate);  —  Comprehensive Revision: 1929 through 1st quarter 2013  —  Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States …

How Much Would A Big Mac Cost If McDonald's Workers Were Paid $15 Per Hour?  —  The plight of McDonald's minimum-wage workers made headlines earlier this month when the burger chain published a much-maligned sample monthly budget, purportedly aimed at helping its staffers save money.

GOOD JILL, BAD JILL … Justin Lane/EPA/Getty  —  “The New York Times,” Abramson told Nate Silver's agent, “is always the prettiest girl at the party.” … Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times/Redux  —  Sulzberger (at right) with four of his five executive editors: (from left) Keller, Abramson, Max Frankel, and Joseph Lelyveld.

70 Percent Of Americans Support Universal Preschool Access  —  Seventy percent of Americans support providing all low- and moderate-income four year olds with access to high quality preschool, according to a poll released Wednesday by Public Opinion Strategies and Hart Research.

KENNETH POLLACK: IF ONLY WE COULD REINVADE IRAQ  —  In the years leading up to the invasion of Iraq, noted Democratic hawk Kenneth M. Pollack played an instrumental role in building bipartisan support for George W. Bush's war of choice.  Today, as a Senior Fellow at Brookings …

Look out below!  Work more, get less in Obamacare ‘cliff’  —  Be careful you don't fall off the Obamacare “cliff” when the boss asks you to put in some overtime.  —  Working more could ultimately mean thousands of dollars less for you under a quirk in the new health-care law going into effect this fall.

IRS Targeted Existing Conservative Organizations, Too?!  —  Leaders from existing conservative organizations The Leadership Institute and the Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute have made credible claims that they, too, were targeted by the IRS  —  The former has been in existence since 1979 …

Zynga Sues Casual Sex App Over Trademark Infringement  —  Zynga Inc. (ZNGA) sued the maker of the “Bang With Friends” casual sex Internet application over claims it infringes Zynga's trademark for its “with friends” family of games.  —  Bang With Friends Inc., the maker of the application …

Sexual reorientation therapy not unethical: Column  —  Southern Poverty Law Center wrongly fighting against patients' right to choose.  —  CONNECT  —  TheSouthern Poverty Law Centerhas done amazing service for our nation in fighting prejudice.  But it has gone astray …

Report: Cotton to run for Senate in Ark.  —  Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) will run for the Senate, according to The Associated Press.  —  Cotton's decision to challenge Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) gives Republicans their top recruit in a must-win state for the party.

Liberal group pranks Steve King  —  Rep. Steve King got more than he bargained for when he embedded a liberal group's YouTube video of the congressman's remarks into a fundraising email.  —  American Bridge decided to have some fun with the Iowa Republican, adding some text to their video …

Conservative groups launch August recess immigration push  —  Two top conservative groups are launching a concerted effort to push for immigration reform in the districts of a number of House Republicans during the upcoming August congressional recess, a potentially crucial period as members …

Black Holes at China's Shadow Banks  —  When I speak of cracks in China's institutional foundation, I'm thinking in large part of China's banking system — which as far as I can tell, isn't really a banking system the way that we think of it.  —  Banks are controlled by the government …

Gov. McCrory gives protesters cookies, they give them back  —  Gov. Pat McCrory hasn't been willing to meet with the women (and a few men) protesting an abortion bill that opponents say restricts access to safe abortions.  But he did stop by this afternoon with a plate of chocolate chip cookies.

He Beat Allen West and All He Got Was the Most Boring Job In Congress  —  Patrick Murphy and the art of keeping a low profile.  —  Standing on an outdoor stage for the better part of a half an hour has left Rep. Patrick Murphy completely soaked in sweat.  —  “It's f**king hot out,” he says, flapping his arms to dry out his armpits.

E-mails Suggest Collusion Between FEC, IRS to Target Conservative Groups  —  Embattled Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner and an attorney in the Federal Election Commission's general counsel's office appear to have twice colluded to influence the record before the FEC's vote …