JUSTICES: CAN'T MAKE EMPLOYERS COVER CONTRACEPTION  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that some corporations can hold religious objections that allow them to opt out of the new health law requirement that they cover contraceptives for women.

Before Shooting in Iraq, a Warning on Blackwater  —  WASHINGTON — Just weeks before Blackwater guards fatally shot 17 civilians at Baghdad's Nisour Square in 2007, the State Department began investigating the security contractor's operations in Iraq.  But the inquiry was abandoned …

Charlatans, Cranks and Kansas  —  Two years ago Kansas embarked on a remarkable fiscal experiment: It sharply slashed income taxes without any clear idea of what would replace the lost revenue.  Sam Brownback, the governor, proposed the legislation — in percentage terms …

OK so.  A lot of people have asked me about my and Jamie and Jeff's recent study published in PNAS, and I wanted to give a brief public explanation.  The reason we did this research is because we care about the emotional impact of Facebook and the people that use our product.

McDaniel Unveils Another Strategy Against Thad Cochran  —  Volunteers working for tea party challenger Chris McDaniel in Mississippi say they have already found 20 percent of the invalid double-votes they need to cancel Sen. Thad Cochran's business-funded runoff victory.

How Hillary Won Over the Skeptical Left  —  The surprising source of Clinton's invincibility  —  Jay Brown is a blunt-talking doctor from Ames, Iowa, the kind of guy who believes the biggest threats to the republic are the Koch brothers, Rupert Murdoch, and the corporatization of politics.

IRS staredown not going away  —  A top GOP investigator and former IRS official Lois Lerner's lawyer squared off on Sunday, underscoring that the battle over the agency's improper scrutiny of Tea Party groups isn't going anywhere this election year.  —  House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa …

Harris v. Quinn ruling: Unions hit, but not fatally, by SCOTUS  —  The conservative majority on the Supreme Court on Monday signaled its distaste for state laws requiring public-sector workers to pay union dues — but stopped short of sweeping them away, handing organized labor a sweet but potentially short-lived victory.

Why We Can't Talk About Gun Control  —  When one writer suggested that guns can be regulated without anyone's rights being infringed, he lost his job.  Dick Metcalf told his story this morning to a skeptical crowd.  —  ASPEN, Colo. — “I pose this question, Mr. Metcalf, as a hunter of birds.

Bob McDonald, former P&G chief, to be Obama's nominee to lead Veterans Affairs  —  President Obama on Monday will nominate Bob McDonald, a West Point graduate who served as the chief executive of Procter & Gamble, to take over as head of the troubled Department of Veterans Affairs, according to White House officials.