Who do Americans blame for the VA scandal?  —  Shares -  —  NEW YORK — Americans split in their thoughts over who they think is most to blame for the problems at Veterans Affairs department medical facilities, which involve allegations that VA hospitals kept delays in treatment off the books …

‘No Place to Hide,’ by Glenn Greenwald  —  “My position was straightforward,” Glenn Greenwald writes.  “By ordering illegal eavesdropping, the president had committed crimes and should be held accountable for them.”  You break the law, you pay the price: It's that simple.

Democratic Senator Says Some Oppose Obamacare Because Obama Is Black  —  Republican Sen. Ron Johnson responds, “God help you for implying I'm a racist.”  —  A senior Democratic senator suggested Wednesday that President Obama's race factored into opposition to the Affordable Care Act …

The Case for Reparations  —  Two hundred fifty years of slavery.  Ninety years of Jim Crow.  Sixty years of separate but equal.  Thirty-five years of racist housing policy.  Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.  —  Ta-Nehisi Coates … — Deuteronomy 15: 12-15

Fox anchor Gregg Jarrett jailed briefly after incident in MSP airport bar  —  Fox News anchor Gregg Jarrett was jailed Wednesday after being arrested in a bar at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport.  —  Jarrett, who is a weekend co-anchor on the FOX News Channel, was arrested about 12:30 p.m …

Citing N.B.A. Example, Senators Urge N.F.L. to Act on Redskins' Name  —  WASHINGTON — Fifty members of the Senate have signed a letter to the N.F.L. to urge its leadership to press the Washington Redskins to change the team name in the aftermath of tough sanctions against the owner …

House votes 303-121 to curb NSA  —  The House on Thursday passed the most sweeping changes to the country's intelligence operations in over a decade, voting to limit the National Security Agency's ability to snoop on communications.  —  The USA Freedom Act, which passed 303-121 …

Thailand military seizes power in coup  —  The BBC's Jonah Fisher says the move is likely to lead to confrontation  —  Thailand's military has announced it is taking control of the government and has suspended the constitution.  —  In a TV statement, army chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha vowed …

It Wasn't Household Debt That Caused the Great Recession  —  Why are nearly 10 million people still out of work today?  Was it because in September 2008, the U.S. government failed to bail out the insolvent investment bank Lehmann Brothers?  Was it because the two U.S. housing finance giants Fannie Mae …

BREAKING: Mitt Romney to stump for Joni Ernst in Iowa  —  Mitt Romney, a Republican who 731,000 Iowans hoped would become the next president, is returning for the first time since the 2012 general election.  —  The Des Moines Register has learned that Romney will be in Iowa next week to stump for GOP U.S. Senate candidate Joni Ernst.

Nationalization of Senate Elections Poses Challenge to Democrats in 2014  —  Democrats face several challenges in trying to maintain their majority in the U.S. Senate in the 2014 midterm election.  In addition to the normal tendency of the president's party to lose seats in midterm elections …

Moderately Anti-Democratic: The Lie Of The Political ‘Center’  —  We keep using some words in our political debate, but they don't really mean what we think they mean.  —  The think tank Third Way released a poll last week showing a commonplace fact about U.S. politics …

Nearly $100 million in campaign cash sits idle  —  Some urge funds be put toward charity  —  As Sen. Evan Bayh prepared to quit Congress, he called on all Americans to embrace a “spirit of devotion to the national welfare beyond party or self-interest” and declared his “passion for service to our fellow citizens is undiminished.”

Tea party makes its last stand in Mississippi, targeting longtime Sen. Thad Cochran  —  After a string of humiliating defeats in Republican primaries this spring, the tea party's last best hope to oust an incumbent lawmaker is in Mississippi.  —  At first glance, the deeply conservative …

Conservatives Draft Manifesto to Help Republicans Attract Middle-Class Voters  —  WASHINGTON — Hoping to push their agenda ahead of the presidential election, a group of prominent conservatives has devised a 121-page policy manifesto aimed at giving the Republican Party a message that will attract …