Same-Sex Marriage Support Reaches New High at 55%  —  Nearly eight in 10 young adults favor gay marriage  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans' support for the law recognizing same-sex marriages as legally valid has increased yet again, now at 55%.  Marriage equality advocates have had a string …

Thunder Down Ballot  —  In one more observation about the Georgia primary, some interesting things happened in GOP U.S. House races.  One of the most common Twitter-memes early last night was that no matter who won the ultimate Senate prize, Congress would be rid of Paul Broun and Phil Gingrey …

Vet scandal rocks Obama  —  The White House tried Tuesday to douse flames of criticism over allegations that dozens of veterans have died because of gross mismanagement at Veterans Affairs hospitals.  —  President Obama's chief of staff, Denis McDonough, met frustrated Democrats on Capitol Hill …

Bucking Deputies, Pelosi Picks 5 Democrats for Benghazi Panel  —  WASHINGTON — Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, disregarding some of her closest lieutenants in the Democratic leadership, appointed a full slate of House Democrats on Wednesday to a special committee investigating …

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, A Republican, Will Not Appeal Same-Sex Marriage Ruling  —  A sign of the times.  —  Republican Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett speaks in Harrisburg, Pa.  —  The Associated Press  —  WASHINGTON — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett will not be appealing Tuesday's …

Snowden's First Move Against the NSA Was a Party in Hawaii  —  It was December 11, 2012, and in a small art space behind a furniture store in Honolulu, NSA contractor Edward Snowden was working to subvert the machinery of global surveillance.  —  Snowden was not yet famous.

Pope Francis Makes Biblical Case For Addressing Climate Change: ‘If We Destroy Creation, Creation Will Destroy Us’  —  Pope Francis made the religious case for tackling climate change on Wednesday, calling on his fellow Christians to become “Custodians of Creation” and issuing a dire warning …

WTF?  —  I'm not sure why this isn't a bigger deal.  I hadn't heard about it other than in this brief passage tucked away in a Politico article about the House GOP agriculture bill.  But it takes a small program intended provide meals to children in the school lunch program during …

The New Obama Narrative: Epic Incompetence  —  The last eight months have battered the Obama administration.  From the botched rollout of the health-care website to the VA scandal, events are now cementing certain impressions about Mr. Obama.  Among the most damaging is this: He is unusually, even epically, incompetent.

Joe Garcia gets in America Rising's crosshairs (again) with ‘Communism works’ line  —  Beware, Joe Garcia, America Rising PAC is watching.  —  When the Democratic Miami Congressman appeared to eat earwax during a committee hearing (he didn't, he says), the political action committee was quick to catch it and post the video.

U.S. utility's control system was hacked, says Homeland Security  —  (Reuters) - A sophisticated hacking group recently attacked a U.S. public utility and compromised its control system network, but there was no evidence that the utility's operations were affected, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Supreme Court Ruling Not Enough To Prevent Debtors' Prisons … Debtors' prisons were outlawed in the United States nearly 200 years ago.  And more than 30 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court made it clear: Judges cannot send someone to jail just because they are too poor to pay their court fines.

The Untold Story Of What Happened At An Overcrowded West Virginia Jail After The Chemical Spill  —  When roughly 10,000 gallons of chemicals leaked into a West Virginia watershed this January, Governor Earl Ray Tomblin declared a state of emergency.  Officials shut down schools …

Mitch McConnell challenges Alison Lundergan Grimes to three debates  —  By Sam Youngman syoungman@herald-leader.com U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, fresh off his primary win against challenger Matt Bevin, is challenging Democratic nominee Alison Lundergan Grimes to three debates.

U.S. deploys 80 troops to Chad to help find kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls  —  The United States has deployed 80 troops to Chad to augment efforts to find Nigerian schoolgirls who were taken hostage by a militant Islamist group, the White House announced Wednesday, in a significant escalation …

Team Romney Thinks It's Winning The GOP Civil War  —  Mitt's biggest fans celebrate the triumph of Romney Republicanism in Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Idaho.  “The Romney brand has had a real resurgence,” says O'Brien.  —  Steve Marcus / Reuters / Reuters  —  For the small orbit of friends …

Young Iranians Arrested for Being Too ‘Happy in Tehran’  —  Just days after Iran's president denounced Internet censorship as “cowardly,” six young Iranians were arrested and forced to repent on state television Tuesday for the grievous offense of proclaiming themselves to be “Happy in Tehran …

‘Over My Dead Body’: Spies Fight Obama Push to Downsize Terror War  —  The Obama administration concluded in 2012 that al Qaeda posed no direct threat to the U.S.—and has sought to scale back the fight ever since, over intel officials' rising objections.  —  In 2012, the Obama administration produced …