‘We Will Not Obey’: Christian Leaders Threaten Civil Disobedience if Supreme Court Legalizes Gay Marriage  —  “We will not obey.”  —  That's the blunt warning a group of prominent religious leaders is sending to the Supreme Court of the United States as they consider same-sex marriage.

David Simon on Baltimore's Anguish  —  David Simon is Baltimore's best-known chronicler of life on the hard streets.  He worked for The Baltimore Sun city desk for a dozen years, wrote “Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets” (1991) and with former homicide detective Ed Burns co-wrote …

Source: Baltimore mayor ordered police to stand down  —  Despite a firm denial by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, a senior law enforcement source charges that she gave an order for police to stand down as riots broke out Monday night, raising more questions about whether …

Former Christie Ally David Wildstein Set to Plead Guilty  —  David Wildstein, a former ally of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, is set to plead guilty on Thursday, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, suggesting he may be cooperating with prosecutors probing traffic jams he ordered near the George Washington Bridge.

U.S. economic growth slows to 0.2 percent, grinding nearly to a halt  —  The U.S. economy ground nearly to a halt in the first three months of the year, according to government data released Wednesday morning, as exports plunged and severe winter weather helped keep consumers indoors.

Eyewitnesses: The Baltimore Riots Didn't Start the Way You Think  —  Baltimore teachers and parents tell a different story from the one you've been reading in the media.  —  After Baltimore police and a crowd of teens clashed near the Mondawmin Mall in northwest Baltimore on Monday afternoon …

Report: Kerry Told Iran He Wishes 'U.S. Had a Leader like Iran's Supreme Leader'  —  Secretary of State John Kerry told his Iranian counterpart that he wished the United States had a leader more like Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, according to comments made by a senior Iranian cleric and repeated in the country's state-run media.

GOP unveils budget deal that seeks repeal of ObamaCare  —  House and Senate Republicans on Wednesday unveiled a budget deal that aims to torpedo ObamaCare while balancing the federal books within 10 years.  —  The deal would approve more than $5 trillion in spending cuts over a decade …

OBAMA vs. REAGAN on GDP GROWTH — NOT EVEN CLOSE  —  Obama's just like Reagan... Except when he isn't.  —  Trickle Down Economics versus Trickle Down Socialism  —  Ronald Reagan's economic plan saw GDP surge at a 3.5% clip - 4.9% after the recession.  That's a 32% bump.

Plane Carrying Bill Clinton Makes Unscheduled Landing in Tanzania … A plane carrying former President Bill Clinton had to make an unscheduled landing today in Tanzania because of a mechanical issue with one of the plane's four engines, a spokesman to Clinton confirmed to ABC News.

David Letterman Reflects on 33 Years in Late-Night Television … Credit: Damon Winter/The New York Times  —  In a single bound, David Letterman seemed to leap the full length of the stage at the Ed Sullivan Theater, racing from backstage as if he'd been thrust forward by the fanfare played …

IRS watchdog finds 6,400 missing Lois Lerner emails  —  Washington (CNN)The IRS watchdog investigating the disappearance of Lois Lerner's emails told a Senate committee it has found roughly 6,400 messages that have never before been turned over to Congress.  —  Lerner was the IRS official …

The Church of Lyin'tology … Eventually even very high-powered, very highly-paid and very public political con men like Mr. David Brooks of the New York Times start to run out of road.  After enough years have passed, a career's worth of public bulls**t and bad faith start to roll downhill faster …

Nary a ‘no’ vote in Louisiana House on resolution urging Ginsburg, Kagan recusal in gay marriage case  —  The Louisiana House of Representatives adopted a measure Monday (April 27) formally urging two U.S. Supreme Court justices to recuse themselves from an ongoing court case that could help decide the fate of gay marriage in Louisiana.

Mother viciously beats woman over parking space at LI mall as husband, children watch  —  Warning: Video contains graphic language and violence.  —  VALLEY STREAM, Long Island (PIX11) — Police are looking for a mother who viciously beat a woman in a Long Island mall parking lot as her husband …

Insurers ignore ObamaCare birth control rule  —  Insurance companies are widely ignoring an ObamaCare rule that requires them to provide free or low-cost birth control, according to a report by the National Women's Law Center.  —  Some insurance companies are still charging women …

How Rick Perry befriended the real ‘Lone Survivor’ Navy SEAL  —  SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — Before he became immortalized as the “Lone Survivor,” a Navy SEAL who escaped a 2005 Taliban ambush on a mountain slope in Afghanistan, Marcus Luttrell was a broken man in search of a haven.

61 Times Bill Kristol Was Reminded of Hitler and Churchill  —  Foreign-policy analysts hate this one weird historic example that explains every foreign-policy scenario.  —  Shares  —  Weekly Standard editor William Kristol, writing in opposition to the Iran deal recently, observed …

Rubio sticking by Iran amendments  —  Marco Rubio is refusing to back down from his fight to force Iran to recognize Israel, a stance that threatens to disrupt a delicately negotiated bipartisan bill that would allow Congress to review any nuclear deal with Tehran.

Give 'Em Hell, Bernie  —  Bernie Sanders is more serious than you think  —  Many years ago I pitched a magazine editor on a story about Bernie Sanders, then a congressman from Vermont, who'd agreed to something extraordinary - he agreed to let me, a reporter, stick next to him without restrictions …

Hillary Clinton to Jump Start Fund-Raising Efforts  —  Hillary Rodham Clinton gave the keynote address Wednesday at the David N. Dinkins Leadership and Public Policy Forum at Columbia University.  —  Michael Appleton for The New York Times  —  Hillary Rodham Clinton had once planned …

Marco Rubio Went to Bat for Corinthian Colleges  —  Last summer, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida asked the U.S. Department of Education to “demonstrate leniency” toward Corinthian Colleges by permitting the wealthy for-profit company to continue accessing millions of dollars in federal financial aid …

Senators vote to block EPA's use of ‘secret science’  —  A Senate committee voted Tuesday to prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from using ‘secret science’ to back its regulations.  —  The vote in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee came after the GOP-controlled House repeatedly approved the bill.

The Backlash Option for 2016  —  My weekly column at TPMCafe stems from the sense of deja vu that a lot of us Baby Boomers have undoubtedly experienced in reaction to the images this week from Baltimore—and earlier, from Ferguson.  And it naturally led me to wonder if the toxic politics of the …