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.

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

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.”

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 …

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 …

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 …