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.

Amid Christie Scandal, Buono Says Some Democrats Have 'Buyer's Remorse'  —  METUCHEN, N.J. — The former campaign workers who partied at the home of Barbara Buono this month were “just jubilant.”  The people she bumps into on the street “are just happier to greet me.”

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 …

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).

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.

Release Detail  —  February 10, 2014 - Legalized Marijuana Hurts Colorado's Image, Slim Majority Tells Quinnipiac University Poll; Only 10% Say They've Used Marijuana Since Legalization  —  Legalization of marijuana for recreational use is bad for the state's image, Colorado voters say 51 …

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 …

Suicide Bomb Instructor Accidentally Kills Iraqi Pupils  —  BAGHDAD — A group of Sunni militants attending a suicide bombing training class at a camp north of Baghdad were killed on Monday when their commander unwittingly conducted a demonstration with a belt that was packed with explosives, army and police officials said.

A Winning Alternative to Obamacare  —  Obamacare is failing.  Faced with this unpleasant reality, President Obama offered up during his State of the Union address his only remaining defense of his eponymous program: There is no alternative.  “[M]y Republican friends...if you have specific plans …

The B.D.S. Threat  —  LONDON — Secretary of State John Kerry caused outrage in Israel recently when he declared: “For Israel there's an increasing delegitimization campaign that has been building up.  People are very sensitive to it.  There is talk of boycotts and other kinds of things.

The U.N. Assault on the Catholic Church  —  A high-profile sex-abuse report is an attempt to bully the church into bowing before the altar of Turtle Bay.  —  In the name of protecting children,the United Nations is now preaching to the Vatican.  A report on the Holy See …