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 …

Obama: Japanese robots a little scary'  —  Tokyo (CNN) - President Barack Obama has some new high tech friends  —  The President played soccer Thursday with a Japanese robot during a stop at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, or Mirikan.

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 …

THE 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE  —  Rand Paul

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 …

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.

GOP Lawmaker: Women Get Paid Less Because ‘Men Are More Motivated’ (VIDEO)  —  A Republican lawmaker from New Hampshire on Wednesday said that women are paid less than men because they don't work as hard or as often, insisting throughout his speech that his argument was legitimate, despite objections from his fellow lawmakers.

THE 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE  —  Scott Walker

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 …