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.)

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.

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.

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 …

Secret Sex Tape: Monica Lewinsky Caught On Explicit Recording Telling Bill Clinton, ‘I Could Take My Clothes Off...’  —  A sex tape that Monica Lewinsky recorded for Bill Clinton at the height of their scandalous affair has leaked, during which the former White House intern is heard planning …

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.

Obama defends Summers, tells Dems 'Don't believe HuffPost'  —  President Obama on Wednesday defended Larry Summers from liberal criticisms that the former-Treasury secretary is unfit to head the Federal Reserve.  —  Addressing House Democrats in the Capitol, Obama emphasized that he has not decided …

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.

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.

DNI Clapper Declassifies and Releases Telephone Metadata Collection Documents  —  In the interest of increased transparency, the Director of National Intelligence has authorized the declassification and public release of the attached documents pertaining to the collection of telephone metadata pursuant to Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act.

Weiner's Women  —  THERE is something missing from the endless moralizing and sophomoric jokes aimed at Anthony D. Weiner.  That something is the role of women in a coarse and creepy Internet culture dedicated to the fulfillment of both male and female desires for virtual carnal knowledge.

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.

23 Libertarian Problems  —  Yes, I do sleep on a copy of Atlas Shrugged .  —  When someone tells you your “crazy views will never win an election.”  —  “Is this like your bible?”  —  When you get a fundraising text from the RNC.  —  Source: blog.asiantown.net  —  View Entire List ›

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 …

8th Woman Accuses Filner Of Unwanted Sexual Advances … A San Diego woman told KPBS News in an exclusive interview that Mayor Bob Filner tried to kiss her after a business meeting in 2011 when he was a congressman.  —  Lisa Curtin, who is director of government and military education …

Senate confirms all five NLRB members  —  After a contentious fight over some of President Obama's nominees, the Senate confirmed five members to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).  —  On Tuesday, the Senate voted to clear all five nominees — Harry Johnson III, Philip Miscimarra, Nancy Schiffer, Kent Hirozawa and Mark Pearce.

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 …