Why Jill Abramson Was Fired  —  At the annual City University Journalism School dinner, on Monday, Dean Baquet, the managing editor of the New York Times, was seated with Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., the paper's publisher.  At the time, I did not give a moment's thought to why Jill Abramson …

Coroner: Man wearing bullet-proof vest says, ‘Shoot me,’ is killed  —  Man, woman being questioned  —  A 25-year-old man who put on a bullet proof vest and asked to be shot was killed Wednesday morning, according to the coroner, and an 18-year-old girl is charged in the death.

America's most gerrymandered congressional districts  —  Crimes against geography.  —  This election year we can expect to hear a lot about Congressional district gerrymandering, which is when political parties redraw district boundaries to give themselves an electoral advantage.

Shinseki ‘mad as hell’ about VA allegations  —  Washington (CNN) — Under withering criticism, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki told a Senate committee on Thursday he was “mad as hell” about allegations of deadly waiting times and coverup at VA hospitals.

Bonfire of the Humanities  —  Christine Lagarde is the latest ritualistic burning of a college-commencement heretic.  —  It's been a long time coming, but America's colleges and universities have finally descended into lunacy.  —  Last month, Brandeis University banned Somali-born feminist Ayaan Hirsi Ali …

Hillary Clinton Took 6 Months to ‘Get Over’ Concussion, Bill Says of Timeline  —  Bill Clinton did more today than defend his wife, Hillary Clinton, from recent accusations leveled by GOP strategist Karl Rove that she suffered brain damage after falling in December 2012.

The Inequality Puzzle  —  Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty; Translated by Arthur Goldhammer  • Belknap/Harvard University Press  Once in a great while, a heavy academic tome dominates for a time the policy debate and, despite bristling with footnotes, shows up on the best-seller list.

Judicial Watch: New Documents Show IRS HQ Control of Tea Party Targeting  —  (Washington, DC) - Judicial Watch today released a new batch of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) documents revealing that its handling of Tea Party applications was directed out of the agency's headquarters in Washington, DC.

Christian woman in Sudan sentenced to death for her faith  —  (CNN) — A Sudanese court has sentenced a Christian woman to death for renouncing Islam, her lawyer said Thursday.  —  Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, 27, was convicted by a Khartoum court this week of apostasy, or the renunciation of faith.

GOP: We'll act on immigration reform in GOP-led Senate  —  Senate Republicans say they'll try to pass immigration reform legislation in the next two years if they take back the Senate in November.  —  The Republicans say winning back the Senate will allow them to pass a series of bills …

Release Detail  —  May 15, 2014 - Native Son Kasich Best Against Clinton In Ohio 2016, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Obama Stuck Deep In Voter Approval Quicksand  —  Ohio Gov. John Kasich runs better against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton than any other Republican in an early look …

Science as McCarthyism  —  On Monday, Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson took a tilt at climate skeptics.  “The assumption that the vast majority in a scientific field is engaged in fraud or corruption is frankly conspiratorial,” Gerson wrote.  As a non-scientist …

Catholic Church forces woman to leave job after gay marriage is revealed  —  Colleen Simon insisted on performing her job this week out of devotion.  —  On Wednesday, she managed a delivery of 2,000 pounds of food for the pantry at St. Francis Xavier Church.  It's work she sees as fulfilling God's will, his call to serve.

Ben Carson Moves Toward Presidential Run  —  Ben Carson is warming to the idea of running for president.  Since the famous brain surgeon retired last year from Johns Hopkins Hospital, he's been speaking around the country to enthusiastic audiences.  And they've affected his thinking about seeking national office.

How Obamacare Rules Triggered $1.6 Billion in Insurance Rebates  —  One of the less discussed pieces of the Affordable Care Act is a measure to control insurance premiums by limiting how much companies can spend on stuff other than medical claims.  Expenses for marketing, fees to brokers …