‘Journalism has died’ at New York Times: Graham, McCain slam Benghazi report  —  Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain harshly criticized The New York Times on Thursday over a recent report which concluded that Al Qaeda was not involved in the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi.

Members of Congress Introduce a new Fix for the Voting Rights Act  —  Marchers at the 50th anniversary commemoration of the March on Washington, August 24, 2013.  (REUTERS/James Lawler Duggan)  —  Today Representatives Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and John Conyers (D-MI) and Senator Patrick Leahy …

NSA collects millions of text messages daily in ‘untargeted’ global sweep  —  The National Security Agency has collected almost 200 million text messages a day from across the globe, using them to extract data including location, contact networks and credit card details, according to top-secret documents.

Movie mogul says new Streep film to make NRA 'wish they weren't alive'  —  Producer reveals secret project to Howard Stern  —  Movie producer Harvey Weinstein announced for the first time on Howard Stern's radio show that he is making a full feature drama to try to destroy the National Rifle Association.

What Christie Did To Get A Reputation As A Political Bully Even In College  —  New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) is no stranger to accusations of political bullying and backroom dealing like those at the heart of the bridge scandal.  —  TPM has found one of the first times …

Tea Party Candidate's Ad Touts His ‘Sexy’ Wife And Large Testicles  —  California Assemblyman Tim Donnelly (R) wants voters to know that his testicles are very large.  And that he wants to put “a gun in every Californian's gun safe.”  —  That's the image Donnelly's decided to present …

'Gilligan's' ‘professor’ dies  —  (CNN) — Actor Russell Johnson, best known as Professor in the 1960s TV sitcom “Gilligan's Island,” died Thursday, his agent said.  Johnson was 89.  —  Johnson played the iconic role of Professor Roy Hinkley, whose scientific schemes to get the castaways rescued …

Even Worse Than We Thought  —  Fascinating email from TPM Reader DW about the sheer level of attempted sabotage down at the ground level in GOP-run Obamacare rejectionist states.

Today I Briefed Congress on the NSA  —  This morning I spent an hour in a closed room with six Members of Congress: Rep. Logfren, Rep. Sensenbrenner, Rep. Scott, Rep. Goodlate, Rep Thompson, and Rep. Amash.  No staffers, no public: just them.  Lofgren asked me to brief her and a few Representatives on the NSA.

Who's Rubin's Early Fave for '16?  —  One of the more amusing pastimes in Washington on slow news days is to observe how certain pundits who are only happy if they are shilling for a presidential campaign seem to be lining up early in the 2016 cycle.  Nobody was more prone to this malady …

Adam Lanza calls in radio station a year before Sandy Hook shooting and gives bizarre interview — LISTEN TO THE TAPE  —  Documents reveal how Lanza, a year before Newtown massacre, used the pseudonym ‘Smiggles’ on a message board to talk about calling an Oregon college radio station and masking …

Senate approves $1.1 trillion spending bill  —  A landmark $1.1 trillion spending bill cleared Congress Thursday evening after conservative resistance collapsed in the Senate and tea party favorite Ted Cruz dropped his insistence on a vote on funding for President Barack Obama's health care plan.

How Washington beat Wall Street  —  NEW YORK — In 2009, Washington went to war against big Wall Street banks hoping to blow up the kind of high-risk, high-reward strategies that helped spark the financial crisis.  Five years later, that war is largely over.  And Washington won in a blowout.

Author Of Same-Sex Marriage Ban Speaks Out  —  The author behind Oklahoma's ban on gay marriage is speaking out.  —  It's been a part of Oklahoma's constitution for ten years.  Now, it's been struck down by a federal judge.  —  That doesn't mean same-sex couples can run straight to the altar.

Executed Ohio killer Dennis McGuire took 15 minutes to die with never-before-tried drugs  —  The two-drug combination was used for the first time on the convicted killer and rapist, who stabbed pregnant woman Joy Stewart to death in 1989.  —  Condemned killer Dennis McGuire was executed using a never-tried lethal cocktail.

Can Anyone Stop Hillary?  —  Why Clinton's 2016 candidacy-without-a-campaign dominates the political galaxy  —  Hillary Clinton has not decided whether to run for President again.  I have this on good authority, despite a recent barrage of reports detailing the many moves that signal a campaign in the making.

Obama's Path From Critic to Overseer of Spying  —  WASHINGTON — As a young lawmaker defining himself as a presidential candidate, Barack Obama visited a center for scholars in August 2007 to give a speech on terrorism.  He described a surveillance state run amok and vowed to rein it in.

The Christmas Tree: Washington's Weapon Against Conservatives  —  Over the past several decades, big-government lawmakers and lobbyists have developed a wide array of techniques they have used to successfully advance their own interests, usually to the detriment of our nation.