Obama is done even pretending to work with Republicans  —  If you can't beat 'em, ignore 'em  —  P  —  resident Obama is going solo.  —  Having seen his ambitious agenda run aground against Republican recalcitrance, Obama is pivoting to a more unilateral approach to achieve his goals.

Boehner: I'd rather kill myself than raise the minimum wage  —  Speaker John Boehner is so against raising the minimum wage that he once said he would rather commit suicide than vote for a “clean” increase.  —  The Ohio Republican and son of a barkeep has repeatedly opposed federally mandated hike increases …

The myth of ‘settled science’  —  Irepeat: I'm not a global warming believer.  I'm not a global warming denier.  I've long believed that it cannot be good for humanity to be spewing tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.  I also believe that those scientists who pretend to know exactly …

Hillary Clinton Maintains Positive Image in U.S.  —  American public's opinion of Vice President Joe Biden is mixed  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — A clear majority of Americans, 59%, still view Hillary Clinton favorably a year after she left her post as secretary of state.

Ukraine rivals agree early election  —  Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leaders have signed a deal leading to an early presidential poll before the end of the year.  —  The election is part of an agreement to end the country's political crisis.

SC colleges under fire about book, course choices  —  Some S.C. public colleges are coming under fire for the books they assign students and whether they follow a state law requiring instruction on the U.S. founding documents.  —  S.C. House budget writers voted Wednesday to take away nearly $70,000 …

‘House of Cards’ threatens to leave if Maryland comes up short on tax credits  —  A few weeks before Season 2 of “House of Cards” debuted online, the show's production company sent Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley a letter with this warning: Give us millions more dollars in tax credits, or we will …

Has Anyone in America Actually Been Harmed by Obamacare?  —  I'm beginning to think there's not actually a single person in America who's been harmed by Obamacare.  I know that seems unlikely, but take a look at the latest AFP ad pounding Obamacare.  It features Julie Boonstra …

The First Lady Did A Sketch With Jimmy Fallon And Will Ferrell In Drag (VIDEO)  —  First Lady Michelle Obama appeared on “The Tonight Show” on Thursday with newly minted host Jimmy Fallon.  The two eventually discussed Obamacare and the first lady's “Let's Move” campaign …

VIDEO: Manchin speaks on a variety of topics; answers questions  —  Minimum wage, health care and budget discussed — but not expected recent water legislation  —  BECKLEY — Although Sen. Joe Manchin had planned to discuss the Charleston-area chemical spill and his recent piece of legislation …

Measure pits freedom against discrimination  —  FONT:  —  The Arizona Legislature has passed a controversial religion bill that is again thrusting Arizona into the national spotlight in a debate over discrimination.  —  House Bill 2153, written by the conservative advocacy group Center …

McCain: Obama the ‘most naive president’  —  Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Thursday called President Obama “the most naïve president in history” because of his foreign policy tactics.  —  Russian President Vladimir Putin “played us so incredibly,” McCain said on a Phoenix radio station.

Go Ahead, Let Your Kids Fail  —  I'm on the road this week, giving talks on my new book about learning to fail better: that is, first, to give ourselves the permission to take on challenges where we might very well fail; second, to pick ourselves up as quickly as possible and move on when things don't work out.

Writing The Snowden Files: ‘The paragraph began to self-delete’  —  Was it the NSA?  GCHQ?  A Russian hacker?  Who was secretly reading his book on Snowden while he wrote it, wonders Luke Harding  —  One day last summer - a short while after Edward Snowden revealed himself as the source behind …

Democrats' Best Weapon for Midterms: Fear of a Red Senate  —  Control of the Senate depends on turnout in November.  Democrats need to tap what scares their base most: fear of an unrestrained GOP.  —  We've known for a long time now that the Democrats have a lot of Senate seats to defend …

Tenn. official ‘threatened’ blacks with skin ‘trophy’ he saved from 1896 lynching  —  The state of Tennessee has fired a veteran investigator because officials believed that he attempted to use violent stories about how his relatives participated in a lynching to intimidate African-Americans …

Exclusive: The Dalai Lama Talks Pot, Facebook and the Pope With TIME  —  The Tibetan spiritual leader also offers surprising praise for China's new leader  —  Ahead of a lengthy two-week tour of the U.S. west coast, the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, spoke with TIME religion …

The Game Changed in Venezuela Last Night - and the International Media Is Asleep At the Switch  —  Dear International Editor:  —  Listen and understand.  The game changed in Venezuela last night.  What had been a slow-motion unravelling that had stretched out, arguably, over the last 15 years went kinetic all of a sudden.

Bombshell ‘American Idol’ Lawsuit Claims Sony Stiffs Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson (Exclusive)  —  The legal claims from the company behind the hit reality TV show, seeking at least $10 million in damages, could ignite new controversies over whether recording artists are getting a proper share of digital income.

Judge rips feds in Sherrod-Breitbart lawsuit  —  A federal judge delivered a severe tongue-lashing to a Justice Department lawyer Thursday, slamming the Obama Administration for its handling of demands for government records in the libel lawsuit fired Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod filed …

US Framework to Demand that PA Recognize Israel as Jewish State  —  US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro declared Friday that the Palestinian Authority (PA) will be obligated to recognize Israel as a Jewish state under the US framework agreement - despite the PA's ongoing defiance over the issue.

Oregon Joins Five States in Refusing to Defend Gay-Marriage Ban  —  Oregon's attorney general said she won't defend her state's ban on same-sex marriage, joining other top law enforcement officials in refusing to fight challenges to similar prohibitions in five other states.