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.

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.

The Clintons fight back, signaling a new phase in 2016 preparations  —  Amid all the speculation about her political future, Hillary Rodham Clinton has cast herself as a global icon tuning out the noise of domestic politics.  —  But this week, she and her husband have jumped into partisan combat.

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 …

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 …

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 …

‘Stress Test,’ by Timothy F. Geithner  —  He's written a really good book — we might as well get that out of the way, as so much else about Timothy F. Geithner remains unsettled.  Geithner served as president of the New York Federal Reserve from late 2003 to 2008 and secretary of the Treasury …

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.

Obama Has Every Reason to Fix the VA. Why Hasn't He?  —  The candidate made taking care of veterans a pledge and a priority, but hundreds of thousands of them are stuck in a long waiting line for disability decisions.  —  VA officials expect to end the claims backlog next year.  (John Moore/Getty Images)

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.

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.

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 …

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.

Stymied by GOP, Obama tells Dems: 'Washington doesn't work'  —  President Obama told attendees at a high-dollar Manhattan fundraiser Wednesday night that the Democratic Party would be in better shape if he “could just get a million surplus votes in Brooklyn” and move them to Nebraska …

Project Wizard: Dick Nixon's Brazen Plan for Post-Watergate Redemption  —  The disgraced president's plan to remake himself as a statesman shows how disconnected he was from reality—but also how resilient and effective he could still be.  —  When Richard Nixon, the first president …

A Shameful Victory for Obamacare's Opponents  —  Lots of people don't even realize they are eligible for assistance  —  McKinsey and Company has published a new report about the Affordable Care Act.  It's getting attention, but not entirely for the right reasons.

Arkansas Supreme Court denies stay of marriage order, but a wrinkle in ruling will halt issuance of licenses in Pulaski County  —  The Arkansas Supreme Court has denied a request for an emergency stay of Judge Chris Piazza's order overturning the ban on same-sex marriage.