FBI director Robert Mueller said the government has used surveillance drones in the U.S. — though "in a very, very minimal way, very seldom" — at a Senate hearing on Wednesday. Sen. Dianne Feinstein said drones were the "biggest threat to privacy" in America today, suggesting that she is anti-NSA paranoia but pro-drone paranoia.
When The Washington Post's Brad Plumer posted "This is actually the scariest chart about Europe" on Thursday morning, there was a spontaneous reaction of mockery on Twitter that could, in the style of many social movements, mark the beginning of a full-scale rebellion against the maniacal competition to create The One Chart That Will Rule Them All.
Depsite rumors to the contrary, President Obama isn't giving up on gun violence. In an event at the White House on Thursday morning, the President averred that he continued to toil under the memory of the mass shooting in Newtown.
On Thursday, President Obama gave a gun control speech and Mayor Bloomberg's group released new gun control ads, all while the NRA runs offensive ads about the president's daughters and rambles about how Bloomberg "can't buy America." That's true. It's much more cost-effective to buy Congress.
At this point, everybody's seen the pink equals sign on the red background show up in her Facebook or Twitter feed. Not everyone's convinced that it's useful, though.
Courtroom sketch artist Arthur Lien is one of the few people who can offer a true window into the closed-door hearings of the nation's high tribunal, the man whose brush can paint emotion onto the most emotionless figures in the land. He talked to us about the gay marriage hearings, and his favorite justice to draw.
Fox News has hired Tucker Carlson to co-host Fox & Friends Weekend, even though the two are on opposite ideological trajectories -- Fox is getting more moderate while Carlson is getting more fringe.
In order to make the case that only she, Sarah Palin, can stand up to the consultants and money men and the "big, bad media," her new ad features nearly 20 media outlets in its pitch to send money to her PAC.
Buried in the news of a major Supreme Court case and effectively burying the hatchet on a contentious Senate bid before it even began, the actress-turned-philanthropist announced on Twitter that she has decided not to challenge Mitch McConnell in 2014.
Two days of historic Supreme Court arguments on gay marriage have cheered legal advocates of gay marriage — who think the end of California's Prop 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act is near — but legal experts say the rulings they expect would mean legal chaos for gay couples.
Today in viral videos: an umbrella goes attacks America's favorite legal analyst, pandas wrestle each other, and everything that's wrong with The Hobbit.
The New York Times reporter, who died this week, shifted balances of power by bringing new attention to details in cases throughout history.
Here are all the words from inside the Supreme Court's hearing on the Defense of Marriage Act, with justices' questions highlighted so you don't have to read through all the tea leaves.
During today's oral arguments before the Supreme Court, concerning the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg remarked that present rules concerning same-sex marriage create a tiered system, which she compared to the grades of milk one can purchase
Breitbart.com's feeble rationalization for its leering coverage of a trip taken by the Obama daughters shouldn't surprise anyone. It's by Matthew Boyle, the Murrow-wannabe at the center of nearly every recent embarrassment in the conservative media.
North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan is the latest Senator to publicly support gay marriage posting on Facebook that "banning gay marriage is bad for families," even though she's up for reelection in 2014 in a state that just passed a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
According to Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas, his position on the House Natural Resources Committee gives him dominion over all of the government agencies that body manages. Or, at least, their parking spaces.
Many politicians and pundits have noticed that gay marriage has become so popular that they have to evolve on the issue to stay relevant. But there are still several conservatives who do have strong feelings. There are a few distinct arguments against gay marriage, and they don't always mesh well together.
Jon Stewart took on the RNC plan to remedy the Republican party, and — in the spirit of the thing — decided to say things how Reince Priebus says things. You know, like a "drunk Muppet."
There are a few lessons for Washington in the new ABC/Washington Post poll released today. One is that (non-Republican) people still like Obama. The second is that one option for Congress to turn its horrible ratings around would be for it to actually do something.
Today's oral arguments are a big deal, compounded all the more by the will-they-or-won't-they hedge from Day 1. But if you haven't been following this Defense of Marriage Act case for the past four years, or if the last 24 hours have been a little overwhelming with all the legalese, don't worry. We've got you covered.
You can measure how quickly public opinion on gay rights has changed by looking at poll numbers, or you can see it on the covers of the national newsweeklies.
Congratulations to Montana's Jon Tester, the latest Democratic senator to clamber onto the back of the gay marriage train as it leaves the station. We've gone ahead and compiled some other popular and/or inevitable things he might want to look into.
Following an awful scandal in which a bunch of Secret Service agents were busted for drinking and partying with hookers in Columbia, the President is moving towards a "culture change" by appointing the first woman ever to run his security detail.
It's been nearly five months since David Petraeus stepped down as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency after revealing his affair with biographer and acolyte Paula Broadwell, and now Petraeus wants to say he's sorry.
Mark Sanford, famous for not hiking on the Appalachian Trail, is polling behind Elizabeth Colbert Busch, famous for being the sister of a guy who lampoons conservatives, in the race for South Carolina's conservative first congressional district.
North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple on Tuesday one-upped Arkansas and signed his state's extremely restrictive abortion measures into law — one of them would outlaw abortion just six weeks into pregnancy, and, well, that's got abortion-rights advocates headed back to appeals court... again.
Ted Cruz birthers are like classic birthers in that they deny reality, which is that the freshman Texas senator meets the constitutional requirements to be president. They are not like classic birthers in that they are not seeking mythical documents that will prove Cruz was born outside America.
Clinton signed the federal Defense of Marriage Act in the middle of the night in 1996 because he'd been burned by supporting allowing gays in the military, and he didn't want to get burned again. He's been doing penance for it ever since, and times have certainly changed.
Why can't you file your taxes in five minutes — and for free? Well, it doesn't help that simpler a system for filing your taxes has been opposed for years by the company behind the most popular consumer tax software — Intuit, maker of TurboTax.
For all of the decades of debate about what the Second Amendment means, it apparently took a Tucson gun store owner just a few weeks to discover the limits to the right to bear arms: people who support gun control aren't covered. Sorry, Mark Kelly. Your assault rifle purchase has been cancelled.
The implied insinuation of conservative media outlets is that a simple question in an online application for the Affordable Care Act is a backdoor effort by the administration to encourage people to register to vote. Which is partially right, but not unfamiliar.
On the first night of Passover, Stewart took it upon himself to offer some free advice following the President's trip to Israel. And first off, it's not necessary for anyone to compliment the matzah.
Here's a guide to keeping track of the historic proceedings, beginning with today's oral arguments on Hollingsworth v. Perry (aka Proposition 8) with expectations high and low, conclusions fast and slow, on social media and by way of a drinking game — with coffee, but still.
If you liked the Rand Paul filibuster of March 2013, you'll love the Rand Paul filibuster of April 2013. Unless you want the Senate to enact new gun restrictions, and unless you liked the part where he stood up and talked for twelve hours.
Mark Warner became the latest member of the Senate to announce his support for gay marriage Monday afternoon — and perhaps the last to do so with any effectiveness. In the recent history of buzzer-beaters for political benefit, others have not been quite so advantageous on the once hot-button issue.
In the coming days, the Supreme Court will be hearing arguments on both a challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act and to California's Proposition 8. In a very real way, we could see the beginning of the end of the marriage equality struggle this week. Here's a look at what's next, because within that optimism there is also some confusion.
Well, it's pretty much confirmed at this point: South Dakota's Democratic Senator, Tim Johnson, will announce his retirement during a press conference on Tuesday. Now get ready for another Johnson to save the Democrats' narrow lead in the chamber.
In a column in today's issue of Yale Daily News, Will Portman writes about his coming out process, the one that led to his father, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, to supporting same-sex marriage. The younger Portman's column is clear and concise, though it raises more questions about how his father sought to publicly portray this ideological shift.
Bachmann was never going to be president. Her quirky, doomed campaign elevated the four-term Congressmember from Minnesota to increased public attention. It also spurred attention, it was revealed today, from the Office of Congressional Ethics.
As is usually the case in DC, we can predict the outcome of the Senate's vote on gun measures a few weeks before the vote happens. One of the only question marks — universal background checks — may also be resolved, thanks to a big name. Not Bloomberg. McCain.
In what may be the most personal preview of the Chief Justice's emotional opinion on cases that may come down to many more legal specifics than that, his cousin is speaking out on her attendance at the Supreme Court's hearings on Prop 8 and DOMA.
State Rep. Jessica Upshaw was found dead from a single gunshot to the head at the house of a former colleague in the state house on Sunday afternoon, and an investigation is under way.
We were denied the sure-to-be-explosive on-camera face-off between NRA chief Wayne LaPierre and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, but they still fired shots at each other during their solo segments on the Sunday talk shows. Elsewhere, Rand Paul talked about his feelings on marijuana. Hint: He's a bit more mellow than you'd expect.
During the long and arduous financial fights on Capitol Hill, one of the Republicans favorite attacks was how the Democratic Senate had not passed a budget in four years. Well, that changed last night. The Senate finally got around to approving a budget that will die on arrival in the House.
Mitt Romney is hosting a mixer in Park City, Utah this summer to unite "political, business and other thought leaders," according to the Chicago Tribune, but you probably aren't invited unless you're a future Republican contender for President or a deep-pocketed donor.
Slate's liberal economics blogger Matt Yglesias bought a $1.2 million three-bedroom condo in Washington, D.C., and a bunch of conservatives are pretty appalled that a liberal would have the gall to be rich.
In a quiet news statement sent out at 3 p.m. on a Friday, the Obama administration officially withdrew the nomination of Caitlin Halligan to sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals' D.C. Circuit, replacing John Roberts. The withdrawal leaves the court with only seven of its eleven members in place — and reemphasizes the problem of slow or blocked judicial nominations.
Only two things have really changed in the push by Senate Democrats to enact a slate of new gun legislation. The first is that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid saved a little face. The second is that a vote isn't coming until April. What hasn't changed is that the Senate is a broken institution.
According to a "security update" posted earlier this week by the National Academic Quiz Tournaments, LLC (which holds and judges quiz bowl tournaments), a member of Harvard's quiz bowl team will be stripped of four quiz bowl championship titles after the company caught him illicitly accessing official quiz questions before the tournaments were held.
The Washington Post is reporting that the man who reportedly paid women to accuse Senator Robert Menendez of prostitution says he was hired by the conservative political outlet that reported the news. Prompting this unprecedented statement: We must rise in defense of the Daily Caller.
Have a story we missed? A link we have to click? A sharp opinion about the news? Instead of waiting for us to post it, tell us on the Open Wire.
Submit your news and ideas | See all reader postsThe Atlantic Wire is your authoritative guide to the news and ideas that matter most right now. Our team tracks newsmakers and opinions across the entire media spectrum: newspapers, web sites, television, radio and magazines.
But we do more than just collect information. By synthesizing, analyzing and summarizing what’s out there, and adding new information when we can, we are a news engine that gives you a quick and valuable account of the issues of the day.
Have a hot tip? A story we missed? Tell us on the Open Wire
How to send us editorial or technical feedback
Get Five Best Columns in your inbox each morning (preview)
