Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, Senators Both, Lead Republican Attacks on Congress  —  WASHINGTON — His voice exuding disgust, Jeb Bush could have been describing a blistering rash.  —  “I'm not a United States senator — thank God,” he told a ballroom full of people here the other day.

Election 2015: Exit poll puts Tories close to majority  —  The Conservatives are set to be the largest party in the Commons but just short of a majority, according to the general election exit poll.  —  The survey taken at polling stations across the UK suggests the Tories will get 316 MPs …

NSA ruling puts lawmakers on edge  —  Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell spar over the future of the National Security Agency's phone-data collection program after it was ruled illegal.  —  A court ruling against the National Security Agency's phone data collection Thursday sparked a war …

The media's real role in 2016  —  Let's be honest with ourselves for a second: This is Hillary Clinton's election to lose.  —  On Nov. 8, 2016, Clinton will start — start — with a minimum 247 of the 270 electoral votes she needs to win.  If you give her Colorado and Virginia …

How Five Republicans Let Congress Keep Its Fraudulent Obamacare Subsidies  —  Health-care experts call it D.C. insiderism at its worst.  —  The rumors began trickling in about a week before the scheduled vote on April 23: Republican leadership was quietly pushing senators to pull support …

Activist: No regrets about cartoon contest ended by gunfire  —  6 photos  —  NEW YORK (AP) — Does Pamela Geller regret organizing the Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest that ended in gunfire?  —  No, she says confidently.  In fact, she says, she probably saved lives by hosting the event …

The dawn of artificial intelligence  —  Powerful computers will reshape humanity's future.  How to ensure the promise outweighs the perils  —  From the print edition  —  “THE development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race,” Stephen Hawking warns.

‘Shawshank’ prison escape ends 56 years later with cinematic stakeout  —  A man convicted of manslaughter who escaped from an Ohio prison farm in 1959 was arrested in Florida Monday.  But a friend says she hopes 79-year-old Frank Freshwater won't be sentenced.  (AP)

Saudi Arabia Considers Nuclear Weapons to Offset Iran  —  As a deal to curb Tehran's nuclear program nears, Iran's regional rivals feel vulnerable  —  RIYADH—The nuclear deal that the U.S. and other world powers hope to reach with Iran would put a 10-year curb on the Islamic republic's nuclear program.

Senate overwhelmingly approves Iran review bill in 98-1 vote  —  The Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to approve legislation allowing Congress to review a nuclear deal with Iran in a 98-1 vote.  —  Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) was the only senator to oppose the bill.

Rise of the GOP's culture-war zombies: Why the party of right-wing extremism will never give it up  —  One of the more predictable tropes on the left side of America's political dial is the notion that the culture wars are over, that Christian conservatives are in retreat, and that the far right is breaking up due to its irrelevance.

Exposure to ideologically diverse news and opinion on Facebook  —  1Facebook, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.  —  2School of Information, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.  —  ↵† These authors contributed equally to this work.  —  Exposure to news, opinion …

Bloomberg plans 2016 reporter game show  —  Bloomberg is planning a “parody sports-style game show” with reporters on the campaign trail as the contestants, the On Media blog has learned.  —  Matt Negrin, a writer for Bloomberg Politics, has been emailing reporters who will be at the South …

VIDEO: Sexual predator attacks 13-year-old girl in West San Jose  —  San Jose police are trying to track down a man who tried to sexually assault a woman in a grocery store restroom last month and this week forced his way into the home of a 13-year-old girl as she arrived home from school.

Omar Khadr walks free on bail after 13 years in custody  —  'Mr. Khadr you're free to go," Alberta judge says in denying Ottawa its emergency motion.  Ottawa condemns the release of ‘convicted terrorist.’ Khadr first tastes freedom at 2:03 p.m. Toronto time.

Walker hits bump in '16 race  —  Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has hit a bump in the presidential race as new candidates have crowded the field, and his national poll numbers have faltered.  —  He was seen as an early favorite to win the Iowa caucuses after taking the race by storm …