Exclusive: Hillary Clinton's Benghazi chapter  —  Hillary Clinton offers a detailed account of the deadly attack on the American embassy in Benghazi — and a pointed rebuttal to Republican critics who've laced into her over the incident — in a much-anticipated chapter of her forthcoming book, “Hard Choices,” obtained by POLITICO.

Dems help upend Obama's scandal playbook  —  President Barack Obama tried to handle the Veterans Affairs scandal like he had all the others.  —  He couldn't.  —  Democrats wouldn't let him.  —  There's a well-worn Obama playbook: Let conservative critics burn hot, put off decisions during …

Edward Snowden responds to release of e-mail by U.S. officials  —  Former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden responded to questions from The Washington Post following the release of an e-mail he had sent while working for the National Security Agency.  —  Q: How do you respond …

The Affordable Care Act in Kentucky: It's Working  —  For months, critics of the Affordable Care Act boldly vowed to eradicate what they insisted was a failed health reform plan — vows they repeated even as thousands, then tens of thousands and now hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians began …

No Point at West Point  —  A foreign policy of cliché and equivocation.  —  Even the New York Times found President Obama's speech at West Point yesterday wanting: “The address did not match the hype, was largely uninspiring, lacked strategic sweep and is unlikely to quiet his detractors, on the right or the left.”

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to buy Clippers for $2 billion  —  Former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer won a frenetic bidding war for ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers, with his $2-billion offer setting a record price for an NBA team, The Times has learned.

Toddler critically burned during SWAT raid  —  ATLANTA —  A family says a SWAT team raided their home in the middle of the night and seriously injured a 19-month-old boy with a stun grenade.  —  Alecia Phonesavanh told Channel 2's Ryan Young her child is at the Grady Memorial Hospital burn unit …

Libertarianism 3.0; Koch And A Smile  —  The visionary brothers' new paradigm will frustrate the left and alter the right by fusing social tolerance with fiscal responsibility.  —  As a libertarian, I'm always slow to tell people what they should do.  But if you care about politics …

BIPARTISAN AMENDMENT TO STRENGTHEN BACKGROUND CHECK SYSTEM PASSES HOUSE  —  WASHINGTON, DC - A bipartisan amendment authored by U.S. Reps. Mike Thompson (D-CA), chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, Pete King (R-NY), Elizabeth Esty (D-CT), Joe Heck (R-NV), Mike Fitzpatrick …

Big Money, the Koch brothers and me  —  Here's what happens when you try to cover the new oligarchs of American politics.  —  It was a dreary Pacific Northwest evening in February 2012, and President Barack Obama's mood matched the weather.  Despite being among supporters who had gathered …

The Arms Struggle in Chicago  —  The city of Chicago, bedeviled by street gang violence, refuses to give in to ever more restrictive court rulings against enactment of sensible gun safety laws.  The Supreme Court's misguided 2010 decision ended the nearly 30-year-long ban on handguns in Chicago.

House Votes To End DEA Raids On Legal Medical Marijuana Operations  —  “Marijuana does not make people commit crime.  It makes them overeat,” Rep. Steve Cohen said.  The amendment passed 219-189.  —  WASHINGTON — The House passed an amendment late Thursday night to restrict …

Press Laughs at Psaki Saying Obama 'Doesn't Give Himself Enough Credit' on His Foreign Policy  —  State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki was openly mocked by the assembled press corps Thursday after saying President Obama “doesn't give himself enough credit for what he's done around the world.”