Can Rand Paul stand for big military without losing libertarians?  —  WASHINGTON — With an aircraft carrier as his backdrop, Rand Paul will seek Thursday to reassure hawkish Republican voters and donors during his presidential campaign roll-out week that he isn't the same politician who called for cutting defense spending in 2011.

Obama to Call for End to ‘Conversion’ Therapies for Gay and Transgender Youth  —  WASHINGTON — A 17-year-old transgender youth, Leelah Alcorn, stunned her friends and a vast Internet audience in December when she threw herself in front of a tractor-trailer after writing in an online suicide note …

“Face the Nation” host Bob Schieffer to retire this summer  —  Shares -  —  Bob Schieffer, the anchor of CBS News' “Face the Nation,” announced Wednesday that he will retire this summer after more than 50 years of working in journalism.  —  Schieffer, who is 78, has been with CBS News for 46 years.

A killing on camera  —  Protesters gathered outside city hall in North Charleston, South Carolina on Wednesday.  —  The Rev. Calvin Butts this week threatened to withhold his electoral support from Mayor de Blasio.  He demands the mayor order Police Commissioner Bill Bratton to fully abandon …

University of Michigan reverses decision, will show ‘American Sniper’ as scheduled  —  Bradley Cooper as former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle in ‘American Sniper’  —  The University of Michigan said late Wednesday that it will show the film “American Sniper” as originally scheduled after a protest …

Indictments May Be Near in George Washington Bridge Scandal  —  It has been falsely predicted many times in the last year, but now it seems to be true: The federal investigation into the lane closings at the George Washington Bridge appears to be coming to a head, with an announcement of indictments as early as next week.

‘America is the real terrorist and my boys are the best’: Boston Marathon bombers' defiant mother rails against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's guilty verdict in bizarre rant as he faces death penalty  — Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was emotionless with his head bowed as the verdict was read out in U.S. District Court in Boston on Wednesday afternoon

Secret Service manager put on leave during probe of alleged assault  —  The Secret Service has put a senior supervisor on leave and suspended his security clearance after a female employee accused him of assaulting her after-hours at agency headquarters last week, the agency said Wednesday.

Predictors of Indoor Radon Concentrations in Pennsylvania, 1989-2013  —  1Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA; 2Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland …

So many candidates, so little love  —  A seemingly interminable flight, blessed with a well-stocked video-on-demand system, afforded me the opportunity to watch Woody Allen's classic “Annie Hall” again after a hiatus of many years.  —  At one point, the star tells a joke about two elderly women …

Chelsea Manning Shares Her Transition to Living as a Woman — Behind Bars  —  For the first time, Chelsea Manning shares the details of her story as an army private who leaked classified documents, went to military prison, and sued for the right to transition into living as a woman in jail.

Will Ted Cruz Super-PACs Usher in New Frontier of Donor Influence?  —  Now big donors can go super-PAC shopping.  —  The four super-PACs preparing to give a $31 million boost to the presidential hopes of Texas Senator Ted Cruz represent the latest twist in the infiltration of big money in politics …

Lee Surrendered, But His Lieutenants Kept Fighting  —  “If the programme which our people saw set on foot at Appomattox Court-House had been carried out ... we would have no disturbance in the South,” testified the former Confederate general (and future senator) John Brown Gordon in 1871.

The Secret Republicans of Silicon Valley  —  In an industry where only liberal ideas are “allowed,” many libertarians and conservatives keep their political views secret.  —  Deep in Silicon Valley, where the free market reigns and the exchange of ideas is celebrated, a subset of tech workers are hiding their true selves.

EXCLUSIVE: Revealed, the terminally ill man set to be first to undergo the world's first full HEAD transplant pioneered by doctor branded ‘nuts’  —  A man with a fatal medical condition has spoken exclusively to MailOnline about how he is set to become the first person to undergo a head transplant …