A Defiant Rancher Savors the Audience That Rallied to His Side  —  BUNKERVILLE, Nev. — Cliven Bundy stood by the Virgin River up the road from the armed checkpoint at the driveway of his ranch, signing autographs and posing for pictures.  For 55 minutes, Mr. Bundy held forth to a clutch …

Wynn, Clooney exchange barbs over heated dinner conversation  —  George Clooney, right, shown last year at Wynn Las Vegas promoting his Casamigos tequila with Steve and Andrea Wynn, reportedly took issue with Steve Wynn's comments about President Barack Obama.  (Courtesy)  —  George Clooney.

A fatal wait: Veterans languish and die on a VA hospital's secret list  —  (CNN) — At least 40 U.S. veterans died waiting for appointments at the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care system, many of whom were placed on a secret waiting list.  —  The secret list was part of an elaborate scheme designed …

Southern Whites' Loyalty to G.O.P. Nearing That of Blacks to Democrats  —  President Obama's landslide victory in 2008 was supposed to herald the beginning of a new Democratic era.  And yet, six years later, there is not even a clear Democratic majority in the country, let alone one poised for 30 years of dominance.

F.C.C., in a Shift, Backs Fast Lanes for Web Traffic  —  WASHINGTON — The principle that all Internet content should be treated equally as it flows through cables and pipes to consumers looks all but dead.  —  The Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday that it would propose …

Holder says Sotomayor's affirmative action dissent was ‘courageous’  —  Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday called Justice Sonia Sotomayor's dissent in the Supreme Court's latest affirmative action ruling “courageous.”  —  At an event on diversity within the Justice Department …

Barack Obama, the adolescent president  —  Recently, Barack Obama — a Demosthenes determined to elevate our politics from coarseness to elegance; a Pericles sent to ameliorate our rhetorical impoverishment — spoke at the University of Michigan.  He came to that very friendly venue …

Chamber poll shows dead heat in Colorado Senate  —  U.S. Chamber of Commerce polling, conducted by Fabrizio, Lee & Associates last Wednesday and Thursday, shows the Colorado Senate race is a dead heat with the climate favorable for the GOP.  —  The internal survey, obtained exclusively by POLITICO …

Obama Plays Soccer With Robot  —  President Barack Obama, who enjoys playing basketball with friends in Washington, tried out a different sport and a different kind of partner in Tokyo Thursday.  —  The president spent a few minutes with Asimo, a humanoid robot that chatted with the president in English …

Telling Students to Earn Less  —  Obama now calls for reforming his bleeding college loan program.  —  The federal student loan program is becoming so costly to taxpayers that even President Obama is pretending to fix it.  Readers will recall Mr. Obama as the man who has spent …

F.D.A. Will Propose New Regulations for E-Cigarettes  —  WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration will propose sweeping new rules on Thursday that for the first time would extend its regulatory authority from cigarettes to electronic cigarettes, popular nicotine delivery devices …

Preppy Drug Bust High on Hype  —  They're the WASPy Walter Whites of the Philadelphia elite, if you listen to the district attorney.  But a look at the government's case reveals a very different story.  —  The house at 560 Barrett Ave. in the bedroom community of Haverford, Pennsylvania, doesn't fit the profile of a drug lord's den.

Op-ed: Chad Griffin on Controversial Marriage Equality Book  —  The response to Jo Becker's book from many of my friends and colleagues in the LGBT movement has had a profound effect on me.  Most troubling of all is the impression that I personally am unaware or dismissive of the decades of hard work …

The Drinking Age Is Past Its Prime  —  The age 21 rule sets the United States apart from all advanced Western nations, and it has pushed kids toward pills and other anti-social behavior.  —  The National Minimum Drinking Age Act, passed by Congress 30 years ago this July, is a gross violation of civil liberties and must be repealed.

The Other Stealthy ObamaCare Menace  —  The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation exists to impose price controls and limit payments to providers.  —  The Affordable Care Act's Independent Payment Advisory Board has been so heavily criticized for being an unaccountable body with the power …

THE 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE  —  Rand Paul