Welcome to The Intercept  —  We are very excited to welcome everyone to The Intercept, a publication of First Look Media (FLM).  The Intercept, which the three of us created, is the first of what will be numerous digital magazines published by FLM.  —  As soon as we resolved to build The Intercept …

N.F.L. Prospect Michael Sam Proudly Says What Teammates Knew: He's Gay  —  Coaches at the University of Missouri divided players into small groups at a preseason football practice last year for a team-building exercise.  One by one, players were asked to talk about themselves — where they grew up …

The Hillary Papers  —  On May 12, 1992, Stan Greenberg and Celinda Lake, top pollsters for Bill Clinton's presidential campaign, issued a confidential memo.  The memo's subject was “Research on Hillary Clinton.”  —  Voters admired the strength of the Arkansas first couple, the pollsters wrote.

Chastened G.O.P. Tries to Foil Insurgents at Primary Level  —  WASHINGTON — Richard H. Black is a Republican state senator from the Northern Virginia suburbs who once sent plastic fetuses to his colleagues with a note attached: “Would you kill this child?”  He said a statue of Lincoln …

Reid again eyes Senate rulebook  —  Liberal groups are agitating for another round of filibuster reform after Senate Majority Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) controversial triggering of the nuclear option last year has done little to alleviate Senate gridlock.  —  A coalition of labor and liberal groups …

The shocking interrogation of Catherine Engelbrecht  —  During a House Oversight And Government Reform Committee hearing on IRS targeting Thursday, Catherine Engelbrecht, founder of True the Vote, was harshly interrogated by Rep. Elijah Cummings.  —  Cummings offered the standard assurances …

Economic Confidence Still Highest in D.C. in 2013  —  Confidence improved in most states; West Virginia still least confident  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Although scores on Gallup's Economic Confidence Index improved in most U.S. states in 2013, the index remained negative in all 50.

Writing Off the Unemployed  —  Back in 1987 my Princeton colleague Alan Blinder published a very good book titled “Hard Heads, Soft Hearts.”  It was, as you might guess, a call for tough-minded but compassionate economic policy.  Unfortunately, what we actually got — especially …

Why did Gov. Scott Walker lie about voting for Reagan?  —  As noted by James Rowen at The Political Environment, Gov. Scott Walker has once again demonstrated his tenuous relationship with the truth.  In an interview with a right-wing blog Gov. Walker noted how he voted for Ronald Reagan for president (emphasis added).

Lawyers for Christie administration seeking documents, interview with Hoboken mayor  —  A team of attorneys retained by Governor Christie's office in the aftermath of the George Washington Bridge scandal is seeking documents and a private interview with the Hoboken mayor, whose explosive allegations have added to the governor's woes.

Did Petraeus Just Endorse Hillary Clinton?  —  Among Republicans, there is no more popular general than David Petraeus, the commander credited for salvaging the Iraq war and the architect of the counter-insurgency strategy pursued by President Bush.  Petraeus has always shied away from politics …