US to keep troops in Afghanistan  —  President Obama announced Tuesday that the U.S. will keep 9,800 troops in Afghanistan, after the U.S. combat mission ends in 2014, a senior administration official said.  —  That number would be cut in half by the end of 2015, the official said.

How the Gun Nuts Try to Excuse Away the Santa Barbara Slaughter—and Why They're All Wrong  —  The firearms fanboys have been more creative than usual, scrambling to defend their precious weapons in the wake of the massacre in Santa Barbara.  It's only made their excuses lamer.

Joe The Plumber: 'Your Dead Kids Don't Trump My Constitutional Rights' To Have Guns  —  Samuel Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the Plumber, insisted the deaths of innocent people “don't trump” his constitutional rights in an open letter to the families of victims in Friday's shooting rampage near …

Kinsley, Greenwald and Government Secrets  —  Michael Kinsley's review of Glenn Greenwald's new book, “No Place to Hide” hasn't even appeared in the printed Book Review yet - that won't happen until June 8 - but it's already infuriated a lot of people.  After the review was published online last week …

The Real Origins of the Religious Right  —  They'll tell you it was abortion.  Sorry, the historical record's clear: It was segregation.  —  One of the most durable myths in recent history is that the religious right, the coalition of conservative evangelicals and fundamentalists …

SUMMING UP THE FIRING OF JILL ABRAMSON  —  The story of Jill Abramson's abrupt termination as the executive editor of the Times is one of those running stories in which reporters peel away one layer only to be presented with another.  The earlier layers are still a part of the truth …

Beverly Young: I'm running against David Jolly in '16  —  Democrats failed to find a candidate to challenge Republican David Jolly for the congressional seat long held by the late C.W. Bill Young, but they may have one lined up for 2016: Beverly Young, the congressman's widow who campaigned for Jolly earlier this year.

Feds seek extra redactions in drone memo  —  The Justice Department plans to ask a federal appeals court to delete additional material from a drone-related legal opinion before it's made public—redactions that would go beyond those the court approved last month, a government lawyer said in a legal filing Tuesday night.

‘Duck Dynasty’ star Phil Robertson to address Republican Leadership Conference  —  Phil Robertson, the controversial star of the hit TV show “Duck Dynasty” will address the upcoming Republican Leadership Conference on Thursday.  —  Robertson will talk to the annual confab in the evening of its opening day …

Did Woodrow Wilson Destroy the American Presidency?  —  You make the call.  —  Robert W. Merry's recent post, “The Six Best U.S. Presidents of All Time,” posed some provocative questions as to how one should define “greatness in the presidency.”  Unfortunately, in scholarly circles …

Should Atheists Pay for a Prayer Day?  A Nebraskan Town's Crisis of Faith  —  In La Vista, Nebraska, a day of ‘faith and freedom’ hasn't exactly brought everyone together.  Atheists asked why the town was holding a state-sponsored day of faith.  La Vista's mayor railed that ‘minorities’ weren't running his city.

Lumber Union Protectionists Incited SWAT Raid On My Factory, Says Gibson Guitar CEO  —  “Henry.  A SWAT team from Homeland Security just raided our factory!” … “No this is really serious.  We got guys with guns, they put all our people out in the parking lot and won't let us go into the plant.”

GOPer Covers Room In Vulgar Words To Make A Point About Sexism (VIDEO)  —  It was clear that Annette Bosworth's Tuesday morning press conference would be unusual when she said it was intended for a “mature audience” only. … It got even more so when the long-shot candidate for U.S. Senate …

EXCLUSIVE - Wife set to hang for marrying Christian U.S. citizen gives birth to baby girl in squalid jail  —  A doctor who is facing execution in Sudan for marrying a Christian gave birth to a baby girl in prison today.  —  Meriam Ibrahim, who has spent the past four months shackled …

Mitch McConnell doubles down on lie that Kynect is unconnected to Obamacare  —  When Mitch McConnell dropped jaws last Friday by saying that the fate of Kynect — and the health insurance coverage of over 400,000 Kentuckians — is “unconnected” to the repeal of the Affordable Care Act …