Boehner's Epic Burn  —  You may have seen that Israeli officials announced this evening that US House Speaker John Boehner will leave at the end of March for a 10 day victory tour through Israel.  The trip, purportedly, was planned during Netanyahu's visit to Washington earlier this month …

California proposal to legalize killing gays hard to stop  —  ›  —  ‹  —  For less than the cost of an Apple iPad, Matt McLaughlin started a statewide legal conversation.  —  An attorney from Huntington Beach, McLaughlin in late February spent $200 to propose a ballot measure …

First on CNN: FBI, federal prosecutors investigating Aaron Schock  —  Washington (CNN)The FBI and the federal prosecutors in Illinois are investigating whether Rep. Aaron Schock broke the law in accounting for campaign expenses, according to people familiar with the matter.

Yemen crisis: More than 100 die in attacks on Sanaa mosques  —  Suicide bombers have attacked two mosques in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, killing at least 126 people and wounding many others, reports say.  —  Worshippers were attending noon prayers at the Badr and al-Hashoosh mosques when at least four attackers struck.

How I unfairly maligned two Secret Service agents in POLITICO Magazine  —  It seemed like a refrain: News reports surfaced on March 11 about an incident at the White House involving drunken Secret Service agents.  The first accounts suggested that the agents' conduct was egregious and even cartoonish.

Trillion Dollar Fraudsters  —  By now it's a Republican Party tradition: Every year the party produces a budget that allegedly slashes deficits, but which turns out to contain a trillion-dollar “magic asterisk” — a line that promises huge spending cuts and/or revenue increases …

These Republicans Want to Take Away Your Weekend  —  In Wisconsin, a new bill is threatening to kill workers' one day of rest. … As Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed the so-called “right to work” bill on March 9, making Wisconsin the twenty-fifth right-to-work state in the country …

BREAKING: After Scrapping AR-15 Ammo Ban, ATF Director B. Todd Jones Resigning  —  UPDATE: ATF has officially confirmed Jones' departure without stating a specific reason for his resignation.  —  “ATF employees are hard-working, dedicated individuals who serve the public to make our nation safer every day,” said Jones.

Petraeus: The Islamic State isn't our biggest problem in Iraq  —  General David Petraeus, who commanded U.S. troops during the 2007-2008 surge, was back in Iraq last week for the first time in more than three years.  He was attending the annual Sulaimani Forum, a get-together of Iraqi leaders …

John Boehner defies conservatives, goes bold on budget  —  The House GOP's battered leadership team is determined to score some wins.  —  Speaker John Boehner's newest tack is to go big.  —  Over the next week, the Ohio Republican and his top lieutenants plan to jam two big-ticket items through …

SOCIAL ISSUES … PRINCETON, N.J. — The San Francisco metropolitan area has the highest percentage of the adult population who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) of any of the top 50 U.S. metropolitan areas, followed by Portland, Oregon, and Austin, Texas.

Michael Brown, the Left Banke's brilliant baroque-pop leader, dies at 65  —  The Left Banke writer-keyboardist Michael Brown, who helped the band become an influential pop sensation in the 1960s.  —  Michael Brown, the initial guiding force behind influential 1960s pop act the Left Banke …

Both Parties Are Nervous About 2016  —  Hillary is the only thing holding Democrats together, and Bushes always break the Republican Party.  —  The 2016 presidential campaign is here, pushed up prematurely by the Hillary Clinton email controversy.  When a major candidate of a major party …

Exclusive: Despite Hillary Clinton promise, charity did not disclose donors  —  NEW YORK (Reuters) - In 2008, Hillary Clinton promised Barack Obama, the president-elect, there would be no mystery about who was giving money to her family's globe-circling charities.

Thanks for the Stock Tip, Mr. Senator  —  Inside the shadowy, poorly policed world of “political intelligence.”  —  On April 1, 2013, an hour before the markets closed, a congressional staffer named Brian Sutter passed along to a lobbyist the kind of tip that can make a savvy investor a quick fortune …

McConnell Makes Changes, but Senate Gridlock Remains  —  WASHINGTON — When he became majority leader, propelled by sweeping Republican victories last year, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky vowed to run a more productive and traditional Senate than his Democratic predecessor, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada.

Stephen King: LePage ‘full of the stuff that makes the grass grow green’  —  Author Stephen King turned Gov. Paul LePage's effort to kill Maine's income tax into a horror show for the governor Thursday.  —  In a weekly radio address LePage's office released on Wednesday …

Scientists say Arctic sea ice just set a disturbing new record  —  Two weeks ago, we noted here that the Arctic was on the verge of a scary new record — an unprecedented “lowest winter maximum” for sea ice extent.  What that would mean is that during the season of the year …